Forever and a Week
by Helen N
Summary: AU LxLight If there was one thing Light Yagami hated more than kids messing with his life, it was nineteen years old sweet-loving kids with a severe case of chicken pox that loved to stare at him while he slept. Full summary inside.
1. Maple Syrup To The Rescue

**Disclaimer:** Nope, I don't own Death Note. Wish I did though.

**Rating:** T for some language now. May go to M in later chapters.

**Pairings:** L/Light, possible hints of Matt/Mello in further chapters.

**Summary:** If there was one thing Light Yagami hated more than kids messing with his shampoo, kids nearly chocking on Lego pieces and let's not forget kids exploding the whole TV set, it was nineteen years old sweet-loving kids with a severe case of chicken pox that loved to stare at him while he slept.

**A/N:** Ahhh, and here I am again, two years after I swore off writing fanfiction, doing what? Why writing fanfiction, of course. I must admit, I missed doing this xD And here I am, writing my favourite genre, ready to make Light's life (or at least week) a friggin' mess –malefic laugh –

Just a note before I leave you off. Death Note characters' ages are slightly changed for the fic's purpose to the following:

Light: 17 years

Light's group (Misa, Takada, Mikami, Higuchi): around the same age

L: 19 years

Near: 10 years

Mello: 12 years

Matt: 11 years

Now, enjoy! :)

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**Forever and a Week**

**Chapter 1**

**Maple Syrup To The Rescue  
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"We should do this again sometime! It was a lot of fun!" Misa chirped happily. After all, why wouldn't she be happy? She was walking home from a club at ten o'clock in the evening, surrounded by friends, with her beloved boyfriend's arm around her shoulders.

Unfortunately, said boyfriend did not share her happiness.

Light Yagami was annoyed. Mad, grouchy, and _bored_ out of his mind. He did not enjoy being dragged out of his home on a Friday evening by his self-proclaimed girlfriend and walked around the entire town with a bunch of baboons he's supposed to call his friends.

Not to mention the club they decided to crash at for a couple of hours was a waste of time. The music was too loud, the drinks were not worth their prices, and the company was deplorable. Also at least three waitresses tried to hit on him, only to be death-glared at by Misa. That girl just misses the point about him not liking her at _all_.

And let's not forget Higuchi decided to get shit-faced again and was now dragging his feet pitifully on the pavement, half carried by Mikami, while gazing insistently at Takada's buttocks. Light vaguely wondered what his mother would say when she found out the boy had been drinking again. From what he remembered, it was the forth time this month.

Light mentally scowled as he continued to walk, barely seeing anything at more than a few feet in front of him. His right arm, imprisoned in Misa's death grip, was starting to get disturbingly numb.

"I'll say, it sure was a shit-load o' fuckin' fun!" he heard Higuchi's answer, followed by a loud hiccup. The inebriated teen leaned some more weight on Mikami and started singing a song whose lyrics only he himself understood.

After a few more moments of silence, interrupted only by the sounds of footsteps and Higuchi's hiccupping, the group arrived at an intersection, marked by o shiny road sign.

"Sakura Street." Takada read out loud. "We're not that far from your house, Higuchi-kun."

Light could have almost sworn he heard Mikami mutter "At last!" and smirked. Serves him right for being friends with the likes of Higuchi. He sighed and bit back a nasty remark as Misa gripped his arm even tighter. Good thing his house was the closest after Higuchi's, or he might have murdered the bubbly blonde haired girl.

"Hey." Mikami started, a visible pant in his breathing. "Isn't this the neighbourhood with those two adopted lunatics?"

Light's head snapped right, suddenly interested in the conversation. What lunatics? From what he knew, Sakura Street was one of the quietest neighbourhoods in the Kanto area.

"Oh, yes, you heard about them too?" Takada said, her voice lowering, as if she was telling a big secret.

Light was already getting annoyed with them and their secretiveness. He was ready to step over his pride and ask for details, when Misa beat him to it.

"Lunatics? What lunatics?" she inquired with that high-pinched voice and curious tone that Light hated so much.

"Oh, it's just a rumour that travelled around the girls' locker for a while last year." Takada answered, her tone neutral and her gaze throwing daggers at Misa. She'd been trying to get Light for herself for quite some time now. Although her company was more pleasant and her intelligence coefficient much higher than Misa's, Light wasn't that much interested in her either. "A girl said that at number twenty-three on this street lives a middle-aged couple that adopted two kids some years back. She doesn't think they're Japanese, more like European. But there's something wrong with them, because they're both sickly pale and are rarely ever seen out of the house. One of them is in collage and still eats more sugar that it should be legal and the other has his room full, absolutely full of toys. They both have horrible posture and simply creepy looks." The girl finished her rant with a disgusted shudder.

"Hm, curious," observed Mikami. Curious, indeed. From what the girl related, those kids sounded like malnourished, abused, mentally unstable lunatic asylum patients. Just like Takada first said. Her half-useful rant only made Light more interested about these people.

"Number twenty-three, you said? That's the next house." he spoke for the first time during their walk.

Everyone turned their gaze on the aforementioned house. There was nothing weird or creepy about it, as one would have expected after such a story. It was just a plain beige two-storey house, with petunias planted in the front lawn and a small terrace on the front porch. There was a total of three lights turned on: two on the second floor and one on the ground floor.

Light gazed curiously at it, trying to find something even remotely weird about it. Deciding there was no such ting, he turned back to Takada.

"Are you sure it's the right house?" he inquired.

"Of course I'm sure. Look, over there!" she pointed to the left light on the second floor.

Light squirmed for a few seconds and finally managed to distinguish through the thick curtains a human silhouette. It took him another few seconds to notice what was wrong with it. Then it hit him. That person, whoever it was, was hanging upside down from the ceiling.

"Well, I'll be fucked." Mikami muttered, wide eyes on the same window Light was gazing at.

"Oh, God!" Misa exclaimed quietly. "Is… is that _healthy_?"

"Not that I know of." Takada answered, her icy tone forgotten due to the image in front of her eyes. "See? I told you they are nuts!"

"Nuts, huh?" hiccupped Higuchi once again. "I'll show'em!" With surprising force he detached himself from Mikami's shoulder and marched towards the house, stumbling every few steps.

"Hey, Higuchi-kun, where are you going? Come back!" Misa whisper-yelled at him (thankfully) detaching herself from Light's arm to retrieve the violent drunk.

Mikami, too, went to keep Higuchi from doing something they were all going to regret, and brought the brunet back, keeping him secured by the waist.

"Higuchi-kun, although it would be fun, we can't just go and vandalise that house and expect to not be caught." Mikami stated, speaking rare and clear, perfect for a kindergartener to understand.

"Hm… you're right, Mikami-kun, it would be fun. But how do we make sure we're not caught?" Takada muttered, gazing insistently at Light for any ideas. After all, he was the smartest person any of them had ever met.

'_Oh, no you don't!' _Light thought stubbornly. He trusted his thinking capability with his life, so a little prank like putting vaseline on the on the doorstep or messing with the doorbell wouldn't challenge him in the slightest. But he'll be damned if he risked being caught doing something so dumb!

"Oh, very well." Takada rolled her eyes at the brunet's silence. "Then we'll have to do something ourselves. Come on, Mikami-kun, Misa-chan!"

Misa giggled stupidly and skipped after Takada to the front of the house, below the aforementioned window. Mikami contemplated things a little, and decided that Higuchi would be safe sitting down in the middle of the street, leaning on Light's right leg. He made sure the drunk teen wouldn't top over and ran after the girls, leaving Light to gaze at them with a mixture of surprise and disgust.

Annoyed to no end, the brunet grabbed the collar of Higuchi's shirt and dragged the poor boy pathetically after him to the others, muttering obscenities under his breath. After all, someone had to come with the idea, right?

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L was in deep thought, contemplating a particularly difficult task. He had to make his choice soon, before the others went to sleep and severed his means of obtaining one of the desired objects.

He extended a hand and picked up a leather-bound book, thick and elegant, from his bookcase, blinking suspiciously at the golden title, as if it might change itself if he stared at it long enough.

He had two options. He could either read the book currently resting in his hand, "Faustus", for the third time, or he could go to his adoptive parents' room, search through their bookcase (actually his, but he didn't have any more space in his room for it), and take a couple of Arthur Conan Doyle's novels, which, despite reading them more times than the aforementioned, were by far more interesting.

With a defeated sigh, he decided. It was much too troublesome to go to his adoptive parents' room, when he had an entertaining book right there, in his hand.

Book tightly clutched, the ruffled young man dragged his bare feet to his dresser, – clearly useless, as he barely had enough clothes to fill two drawers; maybe he should get rid of it and get another bookcase – climbed on a chair nearby and, with one swift motion, gracelessly jumped onto said dresser.

Reika-san always told him not to hang upside down anymore. But what she did not know could not hurt her. Also, of maintained for a short amount of time, hanging upside down could be quite comfortable.

Securing his calves on the top of the dresser, L let himself hang, back leaning heavily on the dresser door and opened the book at the first page.

After ten minutes, just as he started getting dizzy, L heard hushed voices from outside. At first he dismissed them as being his adoptive parents but, then again, why would they be trying to be quiet? Also, his little brother was not allowed outside after dark.

Curiosity awoken, L jumped with one swift motion from the dresser, not even bothering to lift himself from his odd position before doing so, hit the ground with a soft noise and removed the curtains from the window just enough to get a glimpse of his immediate surroundings.

What he saw both amused him and fed his curiosity further. Under the tree next to the window was a group of teenagers, not looking much younger than he himself. He never appreciated those social groups. Actually, to this moment, he had never found a single person that would not annoy him with their lack of intelligence. There was Near, his adopted little brother, but they enjoyed each other's company much more in silence.

In a few seconds L had figured out the situation completely. The group consisted of two girls, one painfully blonde and the other dark-haired, and three boys, one of which deeply inebriated. The lighter-haired boy of the bunch was a few meters away, arms crossed and mopping, while the others were trying to construct something that resembled a huge sling-shot, using tree branches and a long pink scarf. They were currently searching for ammunition.

L smirked at the childishness of their plan. Whatever ammunition they found, the scarf wasn't even nearly elastic enough for it to hit L's window, which seemed to be their target. The stubborn one probably didn't agree with their plan. Smart move. But L would have to give them a lesson anyway.

Taking his time, L turned and headed for the other side of the room, where he kept a fully stocked fridge. Although his adoptive father considered this to be too much of a luxury, he would rather let L have a fridge in his room, than have him wondering through the house for a midnight snack and waking up both him and his wife.

He opened the fridge door and took out two full bottles of maple syrup. It broke his heart to waste such good syrup he could eat with pancakes, but this was an emergency. Holding the bottles close to his chest, he closed the door and headed for his desk, opening the bottom drawer. His somewhat cousin had given him a bag containing one hundred colourful balloons upon his last visit. He had never opened the bag, but he was sure this was the way his cousin would have wanted him to use his present.

He took out two balloons, both neon pink, and closed the drawer. He took another peek outside the window, just to make sure his victims were still there. It seemed they were _still_ searching for ammunition. Good.

After taking one last look at the delicious bottles for syrup, L opened one and emptied its entire contents into the opened mouth of the balloon. When he considered the balloon was just an ounce away from exploding, L removed the bottle and threw it away in the paper bin. He repeated the process with the second bottle and balloon. Examining his handiwork proudly, the ebony-haired man knotted the ends of both balloons and, holding them gingerly, once again headed for the window.

Now, who shall be his unlucky victims? The blonde seemed dense enough to freeze up and get hit easily; the inebriated was in no shape to duck either; the black haired teen, now holding an impressively big boulder in both arms, would have to drop the boulder to duck, even if he saw L's attack; the dark-haired woman seemed to be the head of this childish prank, so she would surely deserve one of the bombs; and the brunet teen deserved one just for standing there and looking pretty. But who would be more deserving of all?

"Mikami-kun, be careful with that!" the blonde said in what she considered a hushed tone, which was actually loud enough for L to hear through a closed window.

Oh, well. She asked for it.

Bombs away!

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Light was glaring draggers at the sheer stupidity of his companions. What kind of intelligent human being thought that Misa's pink scarf was a great rubber substitute? Right now Mikami was arguing with Takada about using a fricking boulder as ammunition. Really, why was he bothering with them, again?

He was ready to cover his ears at hearing Misa's shrieking pleading directed at Mikami, when something happened.

Something incredibly unusual and displeasing.

As if in a low quality, slow motion film, Light saw the top right window open and an undistinguishable silhouette throwing something painfully pink at them. In an equally slow motion he saw the pink thing fall freely, unnoticed by the others. Although Light prided himself in his quick reflexes (being a tennis junior champion, and all that), he couldn't get his feet to move away from the bomb, or his mouth to yell at the others. He just stood there and watched it fall endlessly.

Because all that falls must land sometime, so did the pink bomb, hitting its target with a loud _pop._

Misa's shriek could be probably heard through the entire neighbourhood. Thick droplets of liquid flowed pitifully through her hair and face and, for a split terrified second, Light thought it was blood. Just then he felt something running down his face and touched it with his hand. Unable to see it clearly in the darkness, Light brought his hand to his nose and smelled it. It seemed awfully familiar. Against his better judgement, he brought a finger to his lips and tasted the liquid.

Maple syrup. The fricking bastard threw _maple syrup _at them!

He didn't have enough time to react, when a second bomb flew through the window. This time it hit Mikami straight in the face, spoiling him fully with the sweet syrup. Being a mere two feet away from the teen, Light got his fair share of syrup on his hair and clothes.

"Everybody RUN!" Light yelled as loud as he could. Who knew how many maple bombs the lunatic had. They had clearly underestimated their enemy and now they were paying for it.

As he turned to hit the road, he saw through the corner of his eye the front door opening and artificial light filling the lawn. Shit, they're going to be caught if they didn't get out of here quick!

It seems that it was Light's command that the others were waiting for. As soon as he turned to run everybody did the same. Even Higuchi got up to shaky feet and beat it, maintaining an impressively straight direction for his state of mind.

Then again, Light spoke too soon.

As soon as he took his eyes off of Higuchi, the teen lost his balance and fell pitifully to the ground.

Taking Light with him as an anchor.

Light didn't have time to react when he felt a dead weight hitting him in the shoulder blades. His feet gave away under him due to the shock and pain and he fell, hitting the ground with a pitiful _thud._

It took him a few seconds to realise that his head hurt like hell. Despite that, he tried to get up and continue his run. He felt his vision blur and his arms gave away under him in mid lift. It took him another few seconds to realize that blood was running freely from his temple, covering his face.

Light felt Higuchi lift himself off of him and continue his frenetic run. Leaving Light for the dead.

'_Hey, you idiot! Don't leave me here, you morons!'_ Light wanted to yell on top of his lungs, but all that came through his lips was a pained groan. He could only watch as his so called friends hit the road, leaving him hurt on enemy ground.

He heard two pairs of feet behind him, and a couple of middle-aged people arguing.

Oh, goody. His executioners have arrived.

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L nodded, satisfied of his handiwork. Four of the teenagers ran like mad down the street, while the fifth, the stubborn brunet, lay pitifully on the ground. He had a pretty nasty fall, by the looks of it.

L's adoptive parents, Reika and Masahiro, ran to the injured, leaving the front door wide open. How irresponsible. Reiko-san was first, looking as concerned as she always did at seeing an injured person. His father, on the other hand, was walking slower, rougher, hands buried deeply in his pockets. His body language screamed bloody murder.

L watched with disinterest as his parents helped the boy rise to his feet and took him into their house. Typical. L went trough all that trouble, sacrificing his heavenly syrup, and they help the enemy into their own house. Oh, well.

L decided it wasn't worth his time to go meet his attacker, so he closed the curtains, grabbed his book and resumed reading.

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Light was defeated. Beaten. Humiliated. And let's not forger full of maple syrup. The stuff was making his scalp itch.

He was currently in the kitchen of Number twenty-three, Sakura Street, holding a wet tissue to the new-formed lump on the side of his head, and being interrogated by a middle aged couple.

How embarrassing.

"So, tell me again son," the man, looking about forty-five years old, possessor of chestnut brown hair with a balding start and a pair of glasses that practically _screamed _'Accountant', started, "Why were you and your friends on our lawn, at ten o'clock in the evening?"

It was the same question he had been asking for ten minutes now and, just like the previous times, Light decided not to grace it with an answer. He could tell the man was starting to get annoyed. His wife, who looked maybe a year or two younger than him, was sitting on a kitchen chair, following their exchange – or Light's lack thereof – with worried eyes. She had been kind enough to tend to Light's wound, and he was graceful for that, but he would be even more graceful if they let him get the hell home.

"Oookay." the man sighed. "What's your name?"

Finally, a different question. Light contemplated answering truthfully or not. If he told them his name, they could have the police on his ass in no time. Then again, his father was police chief, so he could get out easily. Also he'd be in much more trouble if his father found out that he's been lying about his identity.

"Light Yagami." he muttered with an over-dramatic sigh.

"Light Yagami." The man repeated, as if to test the way the words rolled on his tongue. "So, Yagami, will you grace us with your parents' phone number?" Was he nuts? How stupid did he thought Light was, to freely give away his phone number? Well, stupid enough, since he was the only one caught. "I'll have to mention that the only way you're leaving this house is with your parents. You decide when that will happen."

Well, if he puts the problem like that...

Light sighed one more time and started dictating his home phone number, while the man wrote it down. There wasn't an easy way out of it this time. Darn it.

The brunet watched as the man rose from his seat and headed to the hall, where Light had seen a phone when he entered the house. For lack of a better thing to do, Light took great interest in the squeaky clean tiles of the floor. He had nearly forgotten about the woman a few feet away from him, when she decided to break the silence.

"Yagami-san, are you feeling better?" she asked in a gentle tone and Light raised his eyes to meet her dark ones. She was truly concerned about his well being. This made Light actually feel bad about the attics his companions had caused. Stupid chickens; leaving him to deal with their problems.

He slowly nodded as an answer to her question. At this her lips quirked upwards, revealing a kind motherly smile.

"Good. Would you like a cup of tea?" she didn't give Light the time to answer, as she rose and headed to a cupboard, taking a kettle and filling it with water. Light vaguely wondered how such a normal looking household could hide two syrup throwing lunatics behind its doors.

The brunet heard the door opening and turned to see the accountant-looking man closing it behind him.

"Funny how the police chief's son makes a hobby of pranking random families at odd hours in the night, isn't it, Yagami?" The man muttered, tone light, but brown eyes deadly serious.

Ouch. If he put the problem like that, Light was actually starting to feel like one of those immature rebels you saw in cheap soap-operas. It wasn't even his fault, damn it!

What followed was a very uncomfortable silence. Light was sure his parents were coming to pick him up, so the man had no need to waste his time asking him questions, when he could very well have a talk with Soichiro Yagami. The woman was half watching the tea and half stealing glances at Light. The brunet felt as if he could explode any second due to the insistent stares of these two people.

Light nearly had a heart attack when he heard something ring unexpectedly next to him. For a second he thought it was his father ringing at the door. Then he noticed the black, elegant wall phone next to his head. For a brief moment he wondered why the man had to leave the room to make a call.

The woman abandoned the tea-making suspiciously quick and answered the weird-looking phone. She did not say another word after the initial "Yes?". After listening for a few seconds to the person on the other line speaking, she said she'd be there immediately and ended the conversation.

"Anything wrong, Reiko?" the man asked, momentarily concerned.

"Just Nate-kun. He can't find some of his Lego pieces. I'll go help him. Please watch the tea, dear!" the woman smiled kindly, as if that single phone call had brought a ray of sunshine into the black night outside.

Then again, it didn't even look like a phone. More like a kick-ass radio station, Light mused. So that was the first of signs that these people's kids are treated more specially than would be necessary.

Another sound, this time farther away, resembling a bird's chirp, was heard. This time Light was sure it was the door bell. Sure enough, the accountant-looking man sat up from the table, and exited the kitchen to open the door.

Despite all his efforts to distinguish the conversation, Light couldn't hear much more than a low hum of voices. He was only sure that both of his parents were present, as he distinguished his father's low baritone and his mother's softer, more feminine voice. After a minute or so, the voices disappeared completely, along with a door's loud creek. Where they just going to leave him there while they discussed God knew what?!

It was not as if Light was afraid. His father may have been a strict person, but he wasn't going to mess with Light's squeaky clean criminal record just for a stupid misunderstanding like this one, was he?

Also, even if Light didn't have any proof that he was completely innocent, he wasn't the only culprit in this business! Someone threw freaking balloons filled with maple syrup at him! They had to pay for Light's dry cleaning! Was it the Lego-boy mentioned before? What wouldn't Light give to get his hands on him...

Suddenly a loud and annoying hiss announced that the boiled water was ready for tea making. Unfortunately there was nobody to pick the kettle up. Nobody, but Light himself, that is.

Light tried to ignore the sound. He really did. Unfortunately it was much too ear splitting so it had to be taken care of. For a lack of a better thing to do, the brunet went to the stove, grabbed a nearby kitchen towel and removed the kettle from the flames. There, much better. He vaguely noticed a tray full of small, delicate cups, each containing tea leaves, just waiting for hot water to cover them.

Deciding he had nothing better to do, Light grabbed the towel wrapped kettle again and started pouring hot water. He barely made it through the second cup, when the door opened and the woman called Reiko entered. Light was so surprised in being caught in the act twice in a night that he nearly dropped the kettle. He was feeling very stupid for what he had started doing just then.

"I... uh... it started boiling and I..." Light stammered uncharacteristically. He was very surprised that he, Light Yagami, social butterfly extraordinaire, as he was called behind his back, downright _stammered_. But, then again, randomly pouring tea in a complete stranger's house wasn't exactly something he did daily.

Instead of being angry and whatnot, the woman just laughed heartily. "Don't worry dear, it's not like I'm going to sentence you to death for merely pouring tea. Quite the contrary, thank you for doing so." She went to examine the cups, nodding approvingly at their state. "Come on, your parents are here, you should be there for the conversation." Finally a person who thought so...

The woman finished pouring the tea in his place and grabbed the tray afterwards. She led him out of the kitchen and through the opposite door, where animated chatting could be heard. Upon opening the door, Light was welcomed with a very hospitable-looking living room. A big bookshelf decorated the entire front wall, leaving only a mere space for a modern television. The walls held sophisticated paintings and the wooden floor was covered with a fine dark-red carpet. The dark leather couch and armchairs in the middle of the room were very inviting.

The people sitting in them, however, were not.

"Light." His father turned, a deep frown on his face. Said teenager sighed and took a step forward. "We will have to have a – is that _maple syrup_ in hour hair?!" he suddenly asked, taken aback by his son's unusual ruffled state.

Light sighed in his usual manner that was very audible but not overdramatic. "It's a long story, dad." he muttered in fake embarrassment.

"Oh, no, actually I'd like to hear it." his father answered in a stern tone.

Light mentally gulped. He was not relating _that_ pathetic moment, even if it might lessen his punishment. His audience waited for him to say something for a couple of seconds. The brunet was feeling more than a little uneasy, being the one standing in a group of staring, angry people. How did he get into this again?

"His bunch of hooligans and him," accountant-dude started when he noticed that Light wasn't going to say a word, "tried to send a boulder flying into my older son's room. Don't ask me how they wanted to do this or for what reason, because I haven't got the slightest clue."

Sachiko, his mother, gasped softly, while his father's gaze hardened. Light could almost feel bullets flying through the air to pierce his skin. "Is that true, Light?" Soichiro asked simply.

Light sighed again, this time mentally. What to do, what to do. Pleading innocent, now that he was caught in the act, wouldn't do him any good. He didn't want to take all the blame, but he was sure that none of his companions would admit to helping him if questioned. Oh, joy...

"Yes, dad, it's true. I admit I wasn't all for the idea, but I didn't stop them either." Light answered, head low, simulating the guilty teenager he wasn't. Actually, he wouldn't want anything more than to strangle the bastard who filled him in maple syrup and made him be caught while still innocent.

"And the syrup?" Light's mother asked in a low voice, gazing at the stubborn dark spots marking her son's beige shirt.

"I think I know how to answer that," Reiko said before Light could answer – not that he was eager to, mind you – "our older son tends to have... less usual methods of making justice. He probably saw what they were trying to do and decided to take revenge. We are deeply sorry and we assure you we shall pay the cleaning bill for the clothes." Now that was something. Light supposedly was the one damaging the house, and still he's the one getting paid?

Accountant-dude was ready to protest, but Soichiro beat him to it. "Not at all, madam! We should be the ones paying the damage."

"Oh, no, no! We can't accept your money! That would be incredibly rude!" the woman exclaimed, a beginning of a smile forming on her lips. Accountant-dude was now watching the exchange, his jaw dropping with every word. Funny how, after the initial shock, she was much more confident than her husband.

"Well, there must be some way we can pay you back for what happened." Sachiko tried.

"Actually, there might be something..." Reiko answered thoughtfully. Then she turned to her husband, "...what do you think, honey?"

The poor man, who had just then found his voice, exclaimed firmly, "_Absolutely not_! I'm not letting this... this... hooligan into my house!"

_Geez__, psycho much?_ Light couldn't help but think, imitating Misa's favourite way of talking. And what was this 'something' they were talking about? It seemed his parents were as curious about it as he was. They weren't trying to make Light their maid, were they? The brunet shuddered at the mere thought.

"Rue-san," Soichiro stated seriously, addressing the now arguing couple, "Whatever the task is, I assure you that Light will finish it without any problems. He may have made the wrong impression on you tonight, but I assure you that it was a first and that his normal behaving is exemplary. I, personally, have made sure of that."

_Thanks for asking for my opinion, dad,_ Light couldn't help but think. But, then again, in his current position he had little to say. All he could do is play nice and accept whatever fate was placed upon him. It couldn't be that bad, right?

"See, Masahiro-kun?" Reiko smiled at her husband. That mere action made her look years younger, Light noted. "Let's give the boy a chance to prove you wrong."

Accountant-dude-called-Masahiro-kun glared draggers at Light for a couple of seconds, as if trying to read into his very soul. Then he gave it up. "Very well," he muttered grouchily, "but only if the kid gives his word not to do anything funny."

Everyone's eyes once again turned on Light, waiting for an answer. As if he could say 'no'. "I give my word I'll do my best to complete the task." Light said in mock seriousness. Luckily, nobody caught on to it and took it for granted.

"Well, now that that's settled," Sachiko said, smiling nervously, "what is it exactly that Light has to do?"

Light could tell that she was nervous about what she's gotten her son into. By the looks of it, so was Soichiro.

Masahiro gazed intently at each in the room and started his explanation. "My wife and I are leaving on holiday with a few relatives in a couple of days. We will be out of town for a week. Since this was the only period all of us could take a leave at the same time, we can't take our kids, as it's in the middle of the school semester. Unfortunately we're having a hard time finding a babysitter for such a long period of time."

Light stared. And stared. And stared some more. If he hadn't been so concerned about his image, he might have actually left his jaw drop. There was only a fair number of things Light Yagami would do under extreme situations.

Babysitting wasn't one of them.

"But..." he tried defending himself but, upon detailed inspection, desperation could be felt in his voice. He needed a good excuse. Pronto. "But what about school?" he asked, smug that he had found something his parents couldn't ignore. They wouldn't make their child miss classes, or possibly not have time for homework.

"Oh, don't worry about that! My children are smart, they will be able to manage a week at school without our supervision." Masahiro stated, smiling proudly.

This time Light actually left his jaw drop a little in shock, before managing to compose himself to his usual stoic mask again. The man's attitude was truly shocking. And people have the audacity to call _Light _boastful.

"Actually, Rue-san," Soichiro tried, looking surprised himself, "I think Light was talking about his own studies. His school is too far from here for walking." _Thanks, dad_. Despite knowing that his father was actually digging Light's grave, the brunet's pride couldn't have taken such a blow as having his intelligence publicly declared inferior to that of a maple throwing lunatic.

"Oh, but we could help him here. Our older son could drive him to school before going to collage. That way, the will arrive even earlier than usual." Reiko smiled, clueless.

Only one thing from the woman's monologue registered into Light's mind. _So he actually __**is**__ in collage. And they want __**me**__ to babysit __**him**__?! I don't think I trust myself to be in the same __**car**__ as him, much less if he's driving._

It seemed that his parents were thinking among the same things, since his father turned to Sachiko and mouthed the word 'college' to her, looking stricken.

"Um, that would be... err... wonderful!" Sachiko answered, smiling nervously.

"Great!" the woman exclaimed, clapping her hands in front of her chest and smiling like mad. Light was seriously starting to fear her. She then turned to the boy, "Yagami-kun, do you mind if I drop by tomorrow and leave you a list of what is expected of you on a daily basis? That is, of course, if you were so kind as to leave me your address."

Light nodded gravely. There was little else he could do.

He simply felt numb.

Out of all the things his stupid friends had gotten him into, this one was by far the worst. It was even worse than the time they dragged him camping and accidentally locked him inside the car for an entire night. Even now, years later, he still got an uncomfortable feeling while in a car. But this one? Light had a feeling this was going to end much, much worse. He had always had a thing for kids. The bad sort. His sister, Sayu, was the only person noticeably younger than himself that he got along with.

And they actually wanted him to take care of two people he had no idea about! He only knew that one was in collage and enjoyed covering people in syrup and the other owned Lego pieces. Light shuddered at his lack of information on the matter. This was extremely out of his character.

He continued being numb through the rest of the night. He nodded his head – and nothing more – as farewell to the Rue couple, he maintained he awfully severe silence in his father's car on their way home, he bravely endured an interminable lecture from his father, never objecting to anything, and he quietly went to his room after a late dinner, not even bothering to change before he hit his bed with a loud _thud _and instantly fell asleep.

But all the time only one thought passed through his over-intelligent mind.

_How was he going to get out of this one?!_

**-**

**-**

**-**

Light was awake long before his alarm clock rang, despite it being a Saturday.

As usual, he lay on his back, wide awake, gazing at his blank ceiling. He vaguely noticed he wasn't wearing pyjamas, but that could wait. Right now he was lost in thought, mentally preparing himself for a new day.

And man, did he have a weird dream last night. And it felt disturbingly real too. It started with going out with his moronic friends, as usual, but then incredibly ridiculous things happened: he got splashed in maple syrup, he got left for dead by his companions and caught by the enemy, and he had to pay for some ambiguous injustice by babysitting.

Good thing it was only a dream.

The brunet stretched lazily in his comfortable bed, before removing the covers to get up. He noticed he was still wearing shoes. That was weird. He had never done something so careless before. Unless... no, it couldn't be.

He was heading for the door when something caught his attention. It was a single sheet of paper, placed on his inhumanly tidy desk. It was impossible not to notice it. But what was it doing there? The situation looked awfully familiar, compared to...

Mentally gulping, Light shakily walked to his desk. Upon reaching it, he extended a hand slowly and grabbed the paper, scanning his eyes over it briefly.

_List_

_make breakfast (Ryuuzaki-kun prefers pancakes, but Nate-kun needs his vitamins, so he must be given cereals and orange juice)_

_prepare snacks for Nate-kun (sandwich + fruit)_

_make sure that ... _

He skipped the list and gazed at the name signed at he bottom. _Reika Rue_.

So it _wasn't_ a dream. Every little disturbing detail actually happened last night. And even worse. He truly had to babysit.

Light dropped the paper.

And _screamed_.

**-**

**-**

**-**

**A/N:** And here it is, everyone! My first Death Note fic, so please be gentle :) This is actually the second version of what I planned to be the first chapter. Yes, I'm that obsessed with it ending up good .

It's more of a prologue, to trigger the plot and somewhat introduce the characters. Also, the name confusions/variances will be explained in the next chapter.

Speaking of which, it's still under construction, but reviews do give me a huge boost *HINT HINT* xD


	2. Double the Trouble

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Death Note or its associated characters. If I did L would not have died and would be having hot steamy sex with Light XD

**Rating:** T for some language now. May go to M in later chapters.

**Pairings:** L/Light, possible hints of Matt/Mello in further chapters.

**Summary:** If there was one thing Light Yagami hated more than kids messing with his shampoo, kids nearly chocking on Lego pieces and let's not forget kids exploding the whole TV set, it was nineteen years old sweet-loving kids with a severe case of chicken pox that loved to stare at him while he slept.

**A/N: **Hey, everyone! Here's chapter two! I thought I'd never finish it, lol :) This one is officially the longest chapter I have ever written in my life XD

I'm glad people liked the idea for this fic. It made me warm and fuzzy inside XD As did all the reviews and favourite and alert list addings, so keep them coming! (Review answers are at the end of the chapter)

I apologise for any grammar or vocabulary mistakes you may find, but I am not a native English speaker, so such mistakes can be expected :) If you would like to point out a mistake or ask a question please leave a review or send me a private message and I'll be sure to answer :)

And, lastly, I'm having finals this week and I have to write two hundred (TWO HUNDRED!!!) math exercises by the beginning of June -_-; Thus I'm going to have a hectic week. Thus... I won't be able to update for about two weeks. Please don't kill me *hides under bed*

Now on with the story already! :)

**-**

**-**

**-**

**Forever and a week**

**Chapter 2**

**Double the trouble**

**-**

**-**

**-**

"No, Misa, I can't go out! I'm grounded! I thought I just told you that two seconds ago!" Light growled into the wireless phone held between his right shoulder and head, while packing a stack of clean shirts. Really, that girl was getting dumber by the second...

He half listened to the girl babbling incomprehensibly into the phone while he searched his drawer for clean socks. He could always come back home if he forgot something, but he'd rather not waste any more time than he already would this week.

Tucking his socks neatly into the big voyage bag, he examined his list for anything he forgot. Of course, his trainers! He was going to need them if he had to run after kids through an entire house. Finding the shoes and deciding they need a good washing before being packed, Light headed for the bathroom.

Unfortunately for Misa, washing required two hands, so he's have to make a sacrifice.

"Hey, Misa, listen, I really need to hang up. I still have some homework to finish and dad said to do it before dinner. I'll see you tomorrow at school. Bye." He heard her start complaining, but hung up mercilessly. Heartbroken or not, she would survive.

Tossing the phone onto the laundry basket, the brunet turned the water on and started whashing his already spotless white trainers.

Of course, Misa –or any of the others, for that matter– had not felt the slightest bit of remorse that Light had been the one caught, even if he had not taken a direct hit by the syrup bombs. She actually considered herself the most victimized and wailed on the phone for half of hour about how long it had taken her to wash the syrup out of her hair. As if Light didn't know already.

As a matter of fact, all of his companions from that night were shocked when they found out that Light's father was mad at him and that the old police chief had interdicted him from going out for a month. They probably thought he had been inside that house for tea or something.

But it didn't matter.

Light would find a way to get back at them, one way or another.

After the initial list – four pages and a half long – the Rue woman had called Light's house three times in the last two days, remembering one thing or another to add to said list. Light was surprised that his mother was getting along pretty well with the talkative woman.

Funnily, Light still didn't know much about his future charges. Sure, he had figured out a few things, like the fact that the elder son, Ryuuzaki, simply hearted sweets, or that the younger one, Nate, tended to _always_ use the station Light had seen that fated night in the Rue couple's kitchen. But nothing important.

And that terrified Light.

The younger one might be so snobby as to require Light to bathe him. The older one might be some sort of pervert who stole Light's underwear. They might both have some sort of twisted orgy with the next door neighbour when Light wasn't looking. The brunet shuddered at the last statement.

Light finished washing the poor shoes, now whiter than snow, and put them aside to dry. Deciding to take a shower so he could pack his toiletries, the teen locked the door and started undressing, still very much absentminded.

He had omitted to tell his companions – or anybody else besides his parents for that matter – where he would be spending his week. It's not that he was embarrassed, not at all, but... _Gah_, okay, he actually _was _embarrassed, but who wouldn't if they were in his situation? His 'friends' would not be a problem, as they didn't dare come to pick him up when Soichiro had stated that Light wasn't going out for one month, so the only problem would be to not let anyone see him being picked up by the crazy, sweet-obsessed, maple syrup abusing college student that he was supposed to babysit.

He had to have a talk with said person to solve the problem, but Light was sure he could convince the guy to pick him up from around the block or something.

Also, to Light's immediate shock, he had forgotten completely about Reiko mentioning Light having to babysit some relatives' kids too and nearly spilled his glass of orange juice on himself that morning, when his mother informed him that he had to take care of _four _and not two kids. Talk about double the trouble...

The brunet rinsed his hair of shampoo and applied some conditioner. He started listing his necessary items from the bathroom: shampoo, conditioner, shower gel, soap – two of them, just to be sure –, hand cream – it's a perfectly healthy thing to use and not at all gay, he always told Higuchi, as the annoying boy never understood. Also he's need deodorant, body lotion, perfume, after shave, tooth brush, toothpaste and some razor blades for shaving. He tried to keep it brief, just the necessities. Oh, he probably needed his face lotion for teenage acne too. And should he take a second tooth brush, just in case?

Still contemplating that particular issue, he got out of the shower and started drying off. He then put on his bath robe – he'd have to pack that too – collected his desired items and left the bathroom.

Once in his room, he slipped in a pair of comfortable dark brown trousers and a white short-sleeved shirt and started blow-drying his hair, still gazing around the room for anything he might need. He would probably need a second voyage bag, too, as the current one was on the point of exploding.

"Light-kun, it's dinner time!" he heard his mother calling from the base of the stairs. Then she started talking in a slower tone, probably on the phone again. "Oh, sorry, Reika-san, please do continue..." Figures.

Light put down the hair dryer and examined himself in the mirror. Finding his image satisfying, he turned and exited his room.

At the base of the staircase, he turned again, went to his room and stuffed his dryer in the already full bag.

Who knew when he'd need it.

**-**

**-**

**-**

"No. No. No, Takada! No, I'm not feeling well. No, there's no need to visit me. Yes, I'm coming to school tomorrow. No, of course I'm not in a car, that's the air fan you're hearing. I'm at home in bed. Okay. I'll call you later and ask for homework. Bye." Light pocketed his cell-phone and closed his eyes, sighing.

It was currently Monday morning and he was skipping school. He had never been the nerdy type, but just skipping school like that so he could go and pick up those other kids from the airport at noon was plain irresponsible for just about anyone.

Despite it being only ten in the morning, the brunet felt incredibly tired. He had woken up close to six, as always, and has spent the rest of the morning packing things he _might_ need. He now had three stuffed voyage bags in the luggage carrier of his father's car and a fourth containing all his books for the week in the back seat, next to him. His father was driving, being as careful as he always was in front of the wheel.

Light knew the police chief was still mad at him.

After that first fateful night, when screams had been exchanged – from Soichiro and Sachiko, of course; Light wouldn't be caught dead acting like an uncultured middle class human – Light's parents had been silent and dealt with the problem in their own way: Sachiko pretending nothing ever happened –even if the too frequent phone calls suggested otherwise – and Soichiro giving him the cold shoulder.

Light knew his father felt bad his son had to go through this situation, and even worse that he couldn't get him out of it in the first place.

But that didn't warm the prodigy's heart one bit.

With one last purr, Soichiro's grey family car stopped, right in front of the Rue residence. Light didn't spare the average-looking house one look, as he knew nothing would have changed in the three days that had passed. He would be having enough time to examine it the following week anyway.

As he got out of the car, carrying his bag full of books, the brunet noticed that the current bane of his existence, Masahiro Rue, was in front of the garage, washing a bright red family car, whistling like mad.

What kind on normal human being washed his car on a Monday morning, right before leaving on holiday?!

Then again, it _was_ the Rue residence...

"Oi, Yagami, you're here!" the man yelled when he noticed them. He was wearing the same annoyed, wary look from three days ago, but was hiding it better from Soichiro. "Yagami-san, I'm sorry you had to miss work to bring him here at this hour!" he continued, this time lower, addressing Light's father.

Soichiro waved back, somewhat awkwardly – these people were much too friendly and open, compared to the atmosphere in the Yagami residence – as he got out of the car and opened the luggage carrier and got out Light's abnormally huge bags. Thinking he might as well lessen his father's burden, the brunet grabbed one of the bags and slung one it over his shoulder, nearly toppling over. Okay, so maybe the electric mini-fan wasn't such a big necessity...

Barely carrying the multitude of bags, the two men passed the neat walkway, examining the spotless lawn. The house had a small porch on the right, only large enough for a small round table and two folding chairs. Light vaguely noted that the place would be very nice for a reading session on a late afternoon. He stocked the information in the back of his mind for further reference.

Once in front of the door, Soichiro released one of his son's bags so he could knock. The door was answered nearly immediately by Reika. The woman smiled as brightly as ever, welcoming them inside.

"Oh, Yagami-san and Light-kun! I'm so glad you could make it! Come in for a cup of tea."

"Good morning, Rue-san," Soichiro greeted, dumping Light's luggage in the middle of the hall. What could that boy have packed that was so heavy?! "I'm afraid I can't stay long, as I'm needed at work. But Light here has all the time in the world."

_Thanks for rubbing it in, dad._ The mopping teenager thought. He put down his bags too and greeted the woman icily.

"Oh, that's unfortunate, Yagami-kun! Maybe sometime when we come back from holiday! We could have a family dinner with you, Light-kun and Sachiko-chan!" Both Light and his father noted the use of Sachiko's first name.

"We would love that, Rue-san. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll have to take my leave." The man looked more that glad to be getting away from the woman's company.

After proper advice was given – "Light, make sure to call home every evening!" – and goodbyes were exchanged – "Don't forget you are in a foreign house, act properly!" – the man closed the door after himself, leaving Light alone in the house.

"Light-kun, we'll have a nice cup of tea and then I'll give you a tour of the house!"

Well, nearly alone.

The teen was ushered in the same spotless kitchen as three days ago, seated at the table, and offered a streaming cup of tea. Now, in the daylight and lack of hostile behaviour, the room looked very different. More familiar and homey. Light took in everything from the size of the fridge – much too big for a family of four members – to the collection of pans exposed above the modern stove.

Reika was currently baking some cookies. The pleasant sweet smell filled the entire kitchen. Light, even through he wasn't and avid sweets lover – not even close, actually – desired to taste some of the sweet half-baked dough.

He vaguely wondered why Reika was making cookies on the day she had to leave. Probably for the same reason her husband washed his car on the last moment.

"I'll go tell Hiro-kun to pick up Nate-kun from elementary school. That way you two can meet before we leave!" the woman suddenly exclaimed, startling Light from his day-dreaming.

Then he remembered. Kids. Babysitting. That was what he was here for, after all.

The woman left the kitchen for a few minutes – Light could hear her yell-talking to her husband even through the thick wall – before returning and taking a seat at the table, right next to Light. She poured herself a cup of tea and took a small sip.

"I know this isn't too easy for you Light-kun," she said unexpectedly. Light glanced at her, shocked, and she smiled. "Don't look at me like that. I know teenagers aren't too big on babysitting." At this she winked knowingly. Light mentally sighed. At least she wasn't smart enough to figure that his hatred for children is much more severe than a normal person's of his age. "That's why I decided that you'll be thoroughly repaid for your hard work. Just don't tell Hiro-kun this." She winked again, this time smiling wickedly.

_Oh, well. At least something good is going to come out of this,_ Light thought, feeling a little better. He nodded to the woman and gave her a well practiced fake smile.

The tour of the house that followed was boring and full of unnecessary explanations. He stocked in his mind only the important information: upon entering the house, on the left was the kitchen, first on the right was the living room – they had quite a collection of good books, Light had noted; maybe he shouldn't have brought all that reading material from home, after all – and second on the right was the guest room –which was going to be Light's room for the week. Next to the guestroom and on the immediate right of the stairs was the ground floor bathroom – Light thanked the heavens he had a bathroom so close and nearly for his own.

On the first floor, the house hosted on the right a room with a paper sign that read in messy gothic scribbling _'Lawliet'_, another similar room with another similar sign that read _'Near'_, and a third, which was the master bedroom, the Rue couple's room. At the very end of the hall was another bathroom.

Light was allowed to see only the master bedroom and the room entitled Near. He was very curious about the fact.

"Uh, Rue-san," he tried, knowing he was in for a long explanation, "whose room is that one?" He pointed to said room.

"Oh, that's Ryuuzaki-kun room."

"Ryuuzaki? But the sign reads-"

"Oh, I'm sorry, you must be very confused." she smiled again. Light felt as if he was made fun of. He did not like being left in the dark. "Lawliet was his name since when he was at the orphanage. When we adopted him we gave him a second name, Ryuuzaki. So his full name is Rue Ryuuzaki-Lawliet. Same with Nate-kun. His name is Rue Nate-Near. For some reason, they both prefer their second names more."

_Well, that makes sense_.

_Near_'s room was small and full of toys. That would be the simplest way to put it. The walls were pained in plain white with cream edges. The wooden floor was covered by a big white fluffy carpet. The wooden bed, neatly made, had white sheets, blankets and pillows. The desk in the corner was neatly tidied, except for the pile of plain white puzzle pieces, and the chair was made of white plastic and steel. Nearly _everything_ was white. The only sparks of colour were the cheap paintings on the walls and the bunch of Lego pieces, forgotten in the middle of the room.

It was a weirdly plain room for a child.

"Nate-kun is a very calm child. He's very mature for his ten years." The woman stated, distracting Light for examining the white puzzle, half completed, on the desk. She noticed this and smiled again. But, this time, her smile wasn't large and welcoming, but had a sad tinge to it. "If you left him, he'd just play all day in his room, forgetting to eat and sleep."

Light just nodded, not knowing what to say. What was so bad about that? Didn't all kids get so engrossed in interesting things and forgot about the world around them? Light knew he himself had done so a long time ago.

"The doctors say he has an undeveloped case of autism," she suddenly stated.

Light stopped examining the puzzle and blinked. He surely had not expected that. He turned and looked at the woman, noticing the small smile was still on her lips. But her eyes were lying.

They were empty.

"I understand." he stated. He didn't know what else to say and 'I'm sorry' rarely solved anything. He could only make sure to always keep an eye on the child.

Oh, goodie.

A door opening was heard from downstairs, probably signalling Masahiro's returning.

True enough, once the two descended the stairs, they saw the man in the hall, holding a bag of toys in one hand and a child's small hand in the other.

Light was more than surprised by the kid's appearance. He had rich hair, completely discoloured, falling in soft waves over his eyes and sickly pale skin. Black, piercing eyes gazed at him indifferently. Now that he had taken his jacket and shoes off, Light noticed that he was dressed completely in white: white shirt pulled over a white undershirt and spotless, white trousers. He even had white socks, damn it!

"Hi, Nate-kun," Reiko said in a small childish voice, as if she was talking to a mentally unstable person. Light vaguely remembered that the child actually was one. The boy ignored her completely, eyes still glued on Light, like he was a new and interesting toy. "This here is Light-kun. He will be taking care of you and Ryuuzaki this week, alright?"

The boy's gave did not waver. For a moment Light wondered if he could understand the woman. Just then he nodded and turned his gaze to her.

"Can I go play now?" he asked in a tiny, barely audible voice. But more so, the voice sounded plainly bored. Light felt offended that a mere child considered his presence boring.

"Of, course, Nate." Masahiro spoke for the first time since he entered the house. Light noted the change in his usual stoic face. He truly cared for his adopted child. "Come, let's have some fun with your action figures before we leave."

He took the child's hand again and they disappeared behind the living room's door.

"He's such a cute little child." Reika suddenly cooed, signalling Light of her forgotten presence in the room. "I'm sure he won't make you any problems."

Her gaze wavered onto the old clock plastered on the hall wall. Ten minutes after eleven.

"Oh, dear, we should leave soon! Our plane leaves at twelve." Plane? What plane?! If they left by plane, then why the hell was Masahiro washing the damn car?! "Okay, time for last minute advice!" She said, back to her usual goofy smile.

Yuppie...

"So. Ryuuzaki-kun's class ends at three o'clock. He should be home just in time for lunch. Mello's plane – he's my cousin's son; oh, he's such a sweetie! – arrives at one. Nate-kun will recognize him, as he's been here last summer holiday. Matt's plane – my husband's stepbrother's son –arrives at half past one. Unfortunately we have never seen him, so I can't tell you who he is, but my sister-in-law said he has red hair and green eyes and is eleven years old. It can't be that hard to find him, right? After you arrive home, if you're too tired to cook up something quickly, there're a few packs of instant ramen in one of the drawers. Ryuuzaki will have his own lunch, so don't worry about – I'm rambling, aren't I?" she finally stated, exhaling the air she'd inhaled.

Light slowly nodded, blinking. That woman was very weird, with all her random smiles and unneeded worrying.

"I'm so sorry, it's just that I've never left my children home alone or so long, without one of us to look after them!"

"There's no need to worry. Everything will be okay." Light said, putting on a big fake smile, just to reassure her. Truthfully, he was very afraid. These kids sounded like a handful.

The door to the living room suddenly opened, startling both of them.

"Reika, let's go or we'll be late." Masahito simply stated. He walked to the front door and started putting his shoes on. Upon finishing, he glared at Light. "Yagami, if I don't find this place in perfect shape when I'm back, I will personally castrate you. Got it?"

Light's eyes widened comically as he nodded quickly. The kids might be a handful, but they couldn't be any worse than this guy. And, thankfully, he was leaving.

Light gazed silently as the couple put their shoes and jackets on, opened the front door and left the house. He stood on the door still, watching as they headed for the cab that was parked in front of the house, got in and left with only a wave from Reika. He vaguely guessed they had already sent their luggage by plane to the destination.

And, in a poof, they were gone. Light was alone, in charge of a huge house which will soon be full of kids.

He sighed as he turned and entered the house again, closing the door behind himself. Now he only had to kill an hour or so until going to the airport himself. He had to take the white haired child too, as he did not recognize either of his other two charges.

Light entered the living room, deciding to keep an eye on Nate. The boy was in the middle of the room, playing with a bunch of action figures on the fluffy carpet. He didn't pay any attention to Light when the teen entered the room.

Light gazed for a few seconds at the weird child, as if expecting him to acknowledge the teen prodigy. When he was disappointed, the brunet decided to break the silence.

"Do you mind if I turn the TV on?" he asked coldly and somewhat hesitantly. He was curious what the boy's reaction to him would be.

"Yes. It's noisy." The white haired boy stated, simply, not stopping from his role-playing with his toys.

Light sighed mentally and was preparing to go look through the bookcase when he heard the boy's voice again.

"Light." The brunet turned, surprised the boy still remembered his name after not showing any sign he was paying attention to Reika earlier. "Can I have a glass of water?"

Still surprised by the child's bluntness and awkward personality, said teen nodded and headed for the kitchen.

He had never known what to do with children, but he was damn sure normal children didn't act like that. There was something wrong with this white haired child with piercing black gaze. His eyes held intelligence abnormal for his age and behaviour. It was like he knew all there was to know and nothing could ever surprise him anymore. So he just stuck with playing, creating a world he did not completely know yet.

Upon leaving the kitchen, Light decided to take a few cookies on a marble plate too. They were probably for the kids anyway.

Near took the glass of water slowly when Light entered the room, but did not touch the cookies. He simply regarded them with a nearly disgusted look and said: "Those aren't for me. They're for Lawliet."

Light simply nodded and put the plate on the coffee table, in case the boy changed his mind. But he doubted it. The child didn't look stubborn or spoiled. Just... bored. Just as Light.

They were probably going to understand each other very well...

Deciding to follow the little boy's actions and ignore his surroundings, Light started examining the bookcase. He was surprised by the multitude of quality books. Shakespeare, Tolstoy, Dickens, Dostoyevsky and many others. He even found the complete collection of Arthur Conan Doyle's books.

Funny. He had never taken the Rue couple as the type to read this type of stuff.

He picked a book, the first that caught his attention, opened it and started reading random paragraphs. The cover was of fine leather, the pages were a warm cream and smelled as invitingly as only a newly bought book smelled, and the bookmark was dark blue silk.

It was not hard for Light to get lost in such a book.

Ten minutes later he was curled on the couch next to Nate, reading with passion.

Another ten minutes later, the tiredness from that morning got to him and he fell asleep on the comfortable couch, surrounded by the calming sound of Nate's action figures touching the ground.

**-**

**-**

**-**

Light's eyes snapped open suddenly and he jumped, nearly falling off the couch.

When had he fallen asleep?

What time was it?

He turned his gaze to the exquisite wall clock in the room – these people really had a thing for clocks; must be a tradition thing. Eleven fifty-two. Good. He'd barely slept twenty minutes. He noted Nate was still playing with the action figures, probably not having even noticed that Light had fallen asleep.

He was ready to get up from his half-sprawled position on the couch when something made him freeze.

He heard the front door slam loudly. With shock he remembered not locking said door.

He nearly slapped himself for his own stupidity and lack of attention.

_Burglars?!_ He had barely been in the house for a couple of hours and already he was getting into trouble? What should he do in this situation? His father had thought him, of course, that in situations like this one he should call the police and make as little sound as possible. Unfortunately, the living room did not have a phone. And he had not heard any other doors open or close, so it was safe to assume that the person was either in the hall or the kitchen. By opening the living room door to make a call from the phone in the hall he would completely expose himself. But, if he did not take any action, the burglar might come in the living room and then both Light and Nate would be cornered.

Mentally gulping, Light got up from the couch, simulating calmness, as to not scare Nate. The boy didn't seem to notice him anyway.

There was only one course of action in this situation. He had to confront the stranger, secure him and, after all that, call the police. Yes, it was a simple plan he would complete without any difficulty.

Light felt his heart beating rapidly in his chest. Sure, he had helped his father solving some cases for work and he'd had his fair share of gory images and scary movies, but nothing compared to the real thing.

Taking a deep breath, he opened the living room door just a few inches, to examine his surroundings. Upon noticing nothing out of the ordinary, he sighed and opened the door a little more, just enough to slide through the opening, all the while looking left and right for any sign of danger.

Then he saw it. Through the huge space the kitchen double arc offered, he could see the fridge's door opened and light escaping from the opening. Due to the angle the fridge was in, Light could not see any more of the stranger than the feet from under the fridge door.

Two bare feet.

Light was shocked by this. Who knew what kind of lunatic he had unintentionally left in the house!

Mentally shuddering and deciding he had little else to do without alerting the weird person of his presence, he tip-toed to the umbrella rack near the staircase, grabbed an elegant, long, black umbrella and started making his way behind the stranger, careful not to make any noise.

When he was right behind the man, he raised the umbrella above his head ready to strike. It was then or never. He took a deep breath and yelled:

"FREEZE!"

And so the man did. He jumped comically, dropping whatever he had in his arms and raising them next to his head, like a convict caught in the act. Light vaguely noticed a plastic plate full of sweets hitting the ground and covering it in crumbs and whipped cream. If Light had taken the time, he would have deemed this as more than slightly curious. Fact had it through, that there was a possibly mental thief in front of him that he had to take care of.

"Keep your hands above your head and turn around slowly." Light stated slowly and clearly to the stranger. He felt very much like his father now.

And so the stranger turned around.

Light nearly dropped his umbrella at the sight of such a curious and strange person. The first thing the brunet saw was the poor cookie half stuffed in the man's mouth. Then he noticed the man's piercing black eyes, so much alike Nate's, followed by his black crown of messy hair covering half his face, and sickly pale skin. Soon after that he subtly examined the strange man's attire: jeans, looking very used and old, and a long sleeved simple shirt that clung to his body, showing his every rib. _God, he's skinny._

"Who are you and what the fuck are you doing here?!" Light asked, swinging the umbrella menacingly above his head.

The weird young man – he didn't look much older than Light; maybe two or three years – munched on his cookie silently and slowly swallowed it, taking his sweet little time before answering.

"The question would be who _you_ are and what _you _are doing here."

_The nerve!_

"I asked first!" Light retorted. He knew it was childish, but it was little he could say to such a person.

"Very well. I am Lawliet Rue and, if you don't mind, I was looking for a snack. Or would you like some maple syrup, too?" With the last statement, the man smirked.

And Light knew.

_So that's the bastard who covered me in maple syrup and got me here!_ Unfortunately for his newfound rage, his next thoughts were: _Fuck, but he lives here! I'm supposed to take care of him! I can't beat him to a pulp! Wait, how the hell do __**I**__ have to take care of __**him**__?!_

"You." Light simply stated, as if that one word could transmit all his hatred.

"Me." the Rue continued, gazing blankly in Light's eyes. "Would you mind telling me who you are? Besides the person who got caught by Reika-san and Masahiro-san Friday night?"

_He's rubbing it in. And he's doing it on purpose._ Light was near throwing his principles on the window and simply bashing the bastard's head in. Fortunately, he restrained himself.

"Light Yagami. I'm supposed to be your babysitter while your parents are away." the brunet grit through his teeth.

"Ah, so that's what they did. I was starting to wonder if they left you off without any punishment." the man stated in a curious tone, eyes rolled as if in deep thought. "Could you please lower that umbrella, now that we've made our acquaintances?"

Rolling his eyes, Light did so, still glaring at the man. How could somebody expect Light to take care of a person several years older than himself? Just how old was he, anyway? Light decided to find out just that.

"Just how old are you?" he asked, now leaning on the umbrella handle and still glaring at the black haired young man. Said person had now turned towards the fridge and was searching for sweets again, ignoring the mess of cake at his feet.

"Nineteen years, five months and twenty four days." Lawliet answered, not turning his face from the fridge. Typical.

"You do know you'll have to clean that mess, don't you?" Light growled.

Lawliet turned and looked at Light, blinking innocently. "Why? It is Yagami-kun who had startled me, thus making me drop my snack. Therefore it is Yagami-kun's fault." Light glared at the man or his stupid, yet oddly true logic.

"Hmph. Drop the 'kun', I don't know you." _And I intend to leave it that way_. He said, just to be sure he had the last word. Then he remembered the reason he had been so shocked to have somebody in the house at that hour. "Weren't you supposed to be home at three?"

The man finally turned, holding a full tray of the cookies Reika had baked earlier. "That is true. But I decided to skip the afternoon classes, since the cafeteria lacks a decent amount of sweets.." he explained, scratching his midsection absentmindedly. Light mentally cringed at the impoliteness of the gesture.

Without another word, the brunet decided to leave the raven in the company of his sweets and exited the kitchen to put the umbrella back in the rack. Just then he noticed the time. Twelve thirty-four. Great. Just great. He had to be at the airport in less than half an hour.

He glanced subtly at the black-haired young man, examining him. Lawliet was now sitting at the table, feet perched on the edge of the seat funnily, munching on some more cookies. The pile of spoilt cake was still on the ground, near the fridge.

After all, two heads recognized relatives easier than one. And they would need a quick ride, too.

Light knew he would regret his next words long before he said them.

"Say," he addressed Lawliet, "can you drive?"

**-**

**-**

**-**

Light Yagami. What a curious person.

L stole another gaze at the teenager next to him, who seemed to be mopping silently while gazing through the window of the car. L would lie if he said he wasn't completely surprised by the young man's presence in his kitchen right on the day his parents left on holiday, after what happened a few nights ago. The brunet was the last person he expected his parents to hire.

Why, of course he had already figured his adoptive parents would hire a babysitter again. L did not understand why his parents had to do that, despite L being very capable of taking care of both Near and himself. Through the situation will be more complicated, now that he had both Mello-kun and the boy named Matt on his hands.

Light Yagami seemed to be a capable person; maybe a little grouchy. Just the same as that fated Friday. Was it a normal part of this personality? Or was he this way only when in L's presence? Somehow the raven tended to believe the second solution more.

The car purred like a cat as the three – L driving, Light next to him and Near in the back, playing with a Rubik's cube - zoomed on the near empty street to the airport.

L hadn't expected being dragged along on this trip. He supposed his mother had told Light Yagami that he could drive. L hated driving. He had to sit in an uncomfortable position for an undetermined amount of time, always manoeuvring the wheel and paying attention to the road.

Not to mention the shoes he had to wear were making his toes itch.

But he couldn't say no when Light Yagami asked him. He supposed he was doing it just for the fun. The teenager looked easy to irritate.

"So, you're in college?" Light Yagami asked, not taking his eyes off the scenery outside the car. L knew he was just trying to make conversation and was not in the least interested in L's answer.

"Yes, in To-Oh University, first year." L answered anyway. "What about Yagami-kun?"

"Still in high-school. I will get into To-Oh soon, through." Light sighed, not even bothering to correct L about the usage of 'kun'. L did not consider this boy a friend, or anything worthy of the suffix. He did not consider anyone worthy of it except for, perhaps, Near. But it was a good way of leading people into a false sense of security, thinking that L trusted them.

"Yagami-kun is very sure of himself."

"Of course. If you don't believe in yourself, then who would?" Ah, confident, this Light Yagami.

"That is correct, Yagami-kun."

"Stop calling me that. I told you I don't know you." the teen turned to L, looking irritated. L should have left it there, so to not cause further ruckus.

Oh, but the brunet was so fun to tease.

"Would Yagami-kun prefer it if I called him Raito-kun?" L answered with a straight face, still not taking his face from the road.

"Wha-what?!" Light Yagami turned around suddenly, glaring draggers at L. "That's even worse than before!"

Ah. Light Yagami may seem unreachable but, once you found what made him tick, he was easy to bring to the edge. That was the theory L was going to test.

"Why doesn't Raito-kun like being Raito-kun?"

"Because... it's not even my real name for starters! It's just a stupid pronunciation that only you could think of!"

"Oh, but Raito-kun himself said we do not know each other. How does Raito-kun know that only I would call him Raito-kun?" L knew the boy was close to exploding. That, or saying something he might consider utterly ridiculous later. Either way, L was looking forward to it.

"Because it's just something you would do, okay?" The boy was nearly yelling by now. He seemed to realise this, so he turned his gaze on the window once again, placing his fist close to his cheek, trying uselessly to hide the nearly invisible blush that had spread over his face. So he was embarrassed by outbursts that showed his lack of consideration on matters. Interesting. "Just drop it, okay?"

Ah, near begging. Not downright begging, because Light Yagami didn't seem like he would beg even if threatened with death or, even worse, embarrassment. Also, if it was real begging, L would have completely lost his interest in playing the irritable teenager. Thankfully, that was not the case, so the raven continued:

"Very well. If Raito-kun does not want me to call him Raito-kun, then I shall stop calling him Raito-kun." Raito-kun. Raito. Actually, now that he had let himself get used to it, the name didn't sound half bad.

The brunet glared at him challengingly. L knew what he was going to ask before the brunet said it.

"What's my name?"

Of course L knew the brunet's name. Light Yagami. He had been calling him that since their meeting. But, just to see the teenager's reaction, L answered innocently:

"Raito-kun."

The brunet sighed deeply, as if signalling his giving in. Ah, pity. L had been so close to making him break.

A silence of several seconds followed. Light continued to gaze through the window and L continued to drive. A terrible itch made itself known on the young man's calf. Without taking his gaze from the road, L used his left hand to scratch himself. He found his constant itchiness lately a curious matter, as it was something he barely did once every few days.

He vaguely noticed Raito-kun looking at him disgustedly through the corner of his eye.

"Stop doing that." the brunet simply stated.

"Because I might get an infection?"

"No. Because it's impolite, not to mention fucking disgusting."

L unwillingly stopped scratching.

**-**

**-**

**-**

Lawliet-Ryuuzaki Rue had to be _the most_ annoying person on earth.

Light glared at the man. The man gazed intently at Near's Rubik's cube, completely ignoring Light's ray of hatred.

Darn.

The three were currently waiting at the airport for the first kid's plane to arrive. It seemed the plane had had a lag of ten minutes. Just enough for Light and Near to take a cab and leave the annoying wide-eyed man at home, had the brunet known of this.

As it was, Light was stuck with two children, instead of one, keeping one eye on Near and the other on Lawliet, occasionally glancing at the information table for any news.

Finally, after exactly ten minutes over one o'clock, the plane's arrival was announced. Taking Near's had and pushing Lawliet in front of himself – to keep an eye on the annoying raven – Light made his was to the correct line, eager to get it over with.

Once there, the three were overwhelmed by the amount of people descending from the plane. Unwillingly, Light grabbed Lawliet's forearm to make sure the young man wasn't lost in the crowd. Lawliet didn't show any reaction to the touch, but merely scratched his shoulder.

He really, really needed to stop doing that in public places. It was highly unhygienic.

Slowly, the crowd evaporated and, a few minutes later, there were few people populating the line, besides the three.

And they still hadn't found the kid!

Light felt himself panicking. Wasn't the kid supposed to be on the plane? Weren't Near and Lawliet supposed to recognize him? He looked frustratingly around himself for any lone kids. None, it seemed.

"Hey, didn't you two see that kid?" he asked his two charges.

"I'm afraid not, Raito-kun." L answered, not looking in the least bit concerned. Near simply shook his head, not even taking his eyes from the cube. Well then, where was the little son of a –

"Eeeeeeeeruuuuuuuu!"

The screech was horrible. Loud, childish and freaking annoying. Light turned, along with his two charges, ready to glare the life out of the poor person who had the audacity to disturb him.

He barely had time to notice the four-feet-tall mass of blond hair and colourful clothing, before it glomped Lawliet, sending the both of them to the ground, screaming like mad the whole time.

"L! L! L! You came! You won't believe what I brought you! Remember that book you bought me last time? You read it _ten_ times! _Ten_! And what about – "

"Mello-kun, it's good to see you too." Lawliet said, as emotionlessly as ever, blinking at the hyperactive kid above him. "Would you mind removing yourself from me now? We are attracting quite a bit of a crowd and I don't think Raito-kun appreciates that." It was true. Although subtle, it was blatantly obvious people were glancing at the two, easily hearing every word.

Upon hearing the strange name, the little kid got up from Lawliet, gazing intently at the brunet. Light could finally distinguish the kid's features. He was somewhat surprised to find out that the child was male. The longish blonde hair with a fringe, small, skinny frame, big, excited eyes and high-pitched voice would have strongly suggested a – perhaps a little too boyish – little girl. But, upon further examination, he noticed the somewhat rougher face and, of course, a girl so loud and bubbly would probably wear the pinkest dress in history.

"Who the hell're you?" the kid asked Light, glaring suspiciously at the brunet's face, as if trying to decide if Light was a human being or not.

_The nerve of him... _

"Raito-kun is going to make sure of our well being this week and take care of any problems that may arise." L answered, getting up slowly from the concrete ground. He started scratching the back of his neck energetically. Light cringed just by looking at the other man.

"Oh, so he's some kind of underage babysitter? L can take care of both me and the white-freak over there." Mello growled, acknowledging Near's presence for the first time.

Light opened his mouth to argue with the little living disaster, but was beat to it by Lawliet. "Now, Mello-kun, you know it is Reika-san and Masahiro-san's wish, thus we must follow it. Also, Raito-kun seems to be a very... interesting person."

Said brunet glared at Lawliet. He knew the raven didn't mean it in a good way. He just knew.

"Yeah, right. Let's go, I'm hungry." the blond turned around and started making his way to the exit of the line, before being stopped by Light's hand on his shoulder. "What do _you_ want?"

"Hold it, kid. We've got another relative of yours to pick up. And where is your luggage, anyway?" Light glared at the boy. The kid seemed to loathe him on first sight. But he'd be darned if the feeling wasn't mutual.

"My bags are being brought by a transportation firm right to L's house. And who's this new relative? I haven't been told about anyone else being here. I just hope they aren't as boring as you, pretty boy!"

Light's eyebrow twitched. A blond long haired ten-year-old was calling _him_ pretty boy?! Oh, yay. He had a spoiled snob on his hand for the week.

The prodigy decided not to grace the little prick with an answer, but simply grabbed his hand and dragged the two kids with him to the exit of the line, Lawliet following closely after.

"Lawliet," he whispered, turning to the raven. He had just remembered the weird way Mello had called Lawliet. "Why does he call you 'L'?"

Lawliet raised his thumb to his lips and bit the tip, as if in deep thought. "Last summer, for a prolonged amount of time we role-played being world-known detectives. Mello-kun was M, Near-kun was N and I... I was L."

Figures...

**-**

**-**

**-**

Mello was a very generous person. He really was. The world had no idea about the torture the blond had to endure daily. And he endured it all, from the bottom of his heart.

After all, just for not having killed his parents up to this moment he deserved a freaking medal! For starters, his mother insisted in calling him by his second name, Mihael – which is only _the most_ embarrassing name in the world – which Mello absolutely loathed. And he made sure to always remind his mother of the fact. Unfortunately she had yet to get the hint.

Not to mention she always took him with her to visit her giggling friends and made a fool of him in front of them every time. Oh, and let's not forget, she _alway_s called him _cute_. Mello was _not_ cute. He was a man, for chocolate's sake!

But he'd let all of his mother's antics pass. She was his mother, after all.

The brunet currently gripping his hand and dragging him across the airport to God knew what line, on the other hand, was another story.

This Raito-kun – Mello doubted it was his real name, but L preferred it; if L liked something, then so did Mello – was pure evil. Mello had known it from the beginning. He could _see_ it in the teenager's eyes.

Not to mention he didn't seem to like L. That was a _huge_ downside to anyone in Mello's books.

And what was with this other relative? Mello had heard of it supposing to be only L and him – and N, but the freak didn't count. Nobody had mentioned anything about a stupid babysitter or some stuck up new kid. Stupid parents for not telling him the truth...

Stupid pretty boy for getting the job...

Stupid relative for being on that stupid plane that just landed.

Mello stood next to pretty boy, not making any sound, wallowing in his self pity. He didn't notice that ten minutes had passed, that most of the people had gotten off the plane and exited the line, leaving the four of them still waiting for a person they did not know.

"Do you think this one plans to jump you too?" pretty boy asked, turning to L. Mello didn't like the somewhat disgruntled look the teen was throwing L.

"I'm afraid you miss the point where this boy does not know how either of us looks. And neither do we."

"I know that he's redhead and has green eyes. I didn't see anyone like that getting off the plane."

Redhead. What a waste of time and hair. Redheads were stupid. They were making him wait in an airport and possibly starve to death.

"Raito-kun," L suddenly addressed pretty boy, gaze fixed on the plane, "I'm afraid you are not going to like this."

"What now?!"

"I'm afraid this is the wrong plane."

"_What?!_"

The brunet turned to look closer at the plane identification number. Mello didn't know what he was looking for, but it seemed he didn't find it, as he swore lowly, grabbed his and N's hand again and left the line, L hot on his heels.

They took a glance the information table – Mello didn't care enough to examine it further – and pretty boy dragged the two children once again in the opposite direction. It was getting tiring. Couldn't they just leave the kid there? They could always come back for him tomorrow...

By the time they reached the new line, Mello was nearly out of breath. He glared once more at Raito-kun for having such long legs, surely there just to annoy Mello.

But pretty boy wasn't looking at him. No, he was looking straight forward. Annoyed, Mello followed his gaze. After a few seconds he noticed what had surprised the brunet so much.

In a corner, several dozens pf yards in front of them, was a mass of luggage, thrown randomly next to a bench. In the middle of the mess was a kid, headphones on his ears and playing at a gameboy. From what Mello could see, the boy had fiery red hair.

So that was whom they were searching for all this time. And he was happily playing video games.

Mello will have to have a little chat with him latter.

Pretty boy dragged him and N after himself once more – this was getting tiring – until they were a mere few feet away from the boy. The redhead didn't seem to notice them in the slightest. What a snob.

"Hey, kid," pretty boy called. The redhead didn't budge. "Hey_, kid_!" Still no answer. The brunet extended his hand and shook the gamer's shoulder, efficiently gaining his attention this time.

"Wha- Who're you and what'd you want? Can't you see I'm busy?"

Mello unwillingly ignored the words when the other boy raised his gaze. His eyes were green. Not forest green, not emerald green, not seaweed green. Just... green. Endless green. Brilliant green.

The blond mentally shook his head and settled for a glare directed at the strange redhead. He was merely a kid, after all. Just a stuck-up kid.

"Are you an eleven-year-old Matt with red hair and green eyes, related to a Rue Lawliet, that should be picked up at half past one?" Light addressed the boy, looking as uninterested as a cool guy is expected to look. What a bastard.

Matt. What a stupid name. A mat is something you wipe you feet on. Mello had never understood why people insisted in calling a person that. Maybe because they were unworthy. Yes, that would explain quite a lot.

"You're Ryuuzaki?" the redhead-called-Matt asked incredulously, "You're much better looking than dad said!"

Mello could hear L coughing uncomfortably in the back, long forgotten. He officially hated this Matt. How could he make fun of _L_? L was a genius! He was much smarter than this stuck-up redhead with a foot-wipe for a name!

"Wrong, kid. Now get your bags and let's go." Light was already turning, ready to leave.

Unfortunately for him, he was stopped by The Matt.

"Hey, Mr! I can't carry all this stuff!"

Pretty boy turned again, eyebrow twitching. "Then how did you get them here?"

"There was this homeless guy wandering around, looking like he had nothing to do. So I paid him one hundred fifty yen to help me carry them." The Matt grinned, apparently proud of himself. Talk about no speaking to strangers...

"You... you... you actually...?" Pretty boy was actually staring. Ha! Just a little more and his jaw would have dropped. "Never mind, Lawliet, help him with the bags. Let's go." once again the brunet would have turned, if not stopped by L.

"Raito-kun, I'm afraid the doctors say my back is in a very fragile state and I am not allowed to carry heavy weights." if Mello didn't know better, he'd say L was actually enjoying himself.

Light glared at him. Mello didn't like the glare. He would do something to help L. Yes, that was a good plan.

So he got closer to the pile of bags – what did this kid _bring_ with him? – grabbed a smaller one...

... and threw it to N.

"Here, freak. If I'm helping, you're helping too." he explained, grabbing another one for his own.

The Matt blinked for a moment at Mello, before shrugging and grabbing a third bag, this one bigger. He didn't even bother to close the damn gameboy or shut off the music. Stuck up mat...

Outnumbered, Raito-kun grumbled under his breath and grabbed the last two bags – which meant he could not forcefully grab Mello's hand again, ha! – and made his way to the exit, expecting the others to follow.

Yes, Mello truly hated the guy.

**-**

**-**

**-**

Light felt the beginnings of a migraine challenge him.

It was barely two a clock in the afternoon and he was already regretting ever associating with his so called friends and thus getting himself in this situation.

Despite the complete silence that dominated the car, he could hear the screaming awkwardness and hostility between the children. The only sounds that could be heard were the car's purr and Lawliet's constant scratching. Light didn't even bother telling him to stop anymore.

Mello seemed to hate him on first sight. Well, that was old news anyway. The kid was very fond of the ruffled young man currently driving the car for a reason Light had yet to discover. Oh, and let's not forget, the kid had one hell of a temper and foul mouth.

And Matt – what a name for a kid – didn't seem like an angel either. The kid didn't seem like he could recognize danger even if it hit him in the back of the head. He also seemed like he couldn't control what came out of his mouth. Mello and him could probably make quite a pair of troublemakers with time. Light deeply feared that.

Combined with Near and his antisocial-ness, they were going to give him the week of his life. _Not._

"There's something funny about this car." Matt suddenly stated. "Do you hear that weird sound it makes every time it – " he stopped for a second, apparently hearing something nobody else could, "Hey, did you hear it! It screeches like that every time you turn left! The motor probably needs some oiling."

"That may be so, Matt-kun," Lawliet said, humouring the kid, not taking his eyes off the road, "but I'm afraid I am not experienced with repairing cars, so it must wait until Masahiro-san comes back."

"I know how to oil a motor! You can let me do it! And that way this Masahiro guy will have a surprise when he sees it!" The kid was downright beaming. Light didn't know what eleven years preferred these days, but he was certain an obsession with motors was unhealthy.

"We'll see, Matt-kun, we'll see." Lawliet answered before Light could stop him. Was the guy nuts?! Masahiro would kill him if the kid destroyed the car!

"You're weird." Mello stated. Oh, no, not again...

"Yeah? Well, you're even weirder." Matt retorted. Near, who was sitting between the two, ignored both of them, gazing blankly through the wind screen.

"Who're you calling weird, you machine-freak!"

"Loudmouth!"

"Feet-wipe!"

"Girl-hair!"

"Poopy-pants!"

"FAGGOT!"

"WHY YOU –"

"ENOUGH!" Light yelled, unable to contain himself any longer. These kids were going to give him hell! And Lawliet surely wasn't helping, despite being the oldest. "Shut up, the three of you!" He blatantly ignored Near's pitiful "What did I do?"

"Raito-kun, I don't think that's the best way to –" Lawliet started.

"You shut up and drive. You're not helping matters." Light snapped, glaring at the raven.

And Lawliet did so. They were near the house, anyway. As soon as they were inside, Light would send the little monsters to their rooms and get a glass of water and a fist of pills for his head.

Ah, yes, Lawliet is going to park any second now. Closer. Closer. And –

He hit a trashcan. A freaking trashcan! The can's contents spoiled over the car's front, making visibility nearly impossible through the wind screen.

"FUCK! I THOUGHT YOU _KNEW _HOW TO DRIVE!" Light yelled at the man, ready to punch him hard. The bastard really deserved it! Unfortunately, the raven didn't seem in the least concerned about Light's dangerous state, but simply stared at the wind-screen, seemingly in shock.

An old man, dressed in a shirt, dress pants and house slippers, exited the neighbouring house and started screaming obscenities at them.

"Oh, dear. Roger-san is not happy." Lawliet finally muttered, still not taking his eyes off the mess.

Light sighed deeply, hiding his face in his palms.

This was going to be a long week.

**-**

**-**

**-**

There it is. Like it? Hate it? Confused like hell by it? Please let me know XD Every reviewer gets a virtual cookie from me XD

And is it just me, or is L's scratching very unusual? I wonder why XD

Now for the responses:

**frnight:** Thank you for the praise :) Well, you've seen a bit of L/Light interacting, but I promise you this is nothing compared to what I have planned for the next chapters *evil laugh*

**anime-fushigi:** Thanks XD I home you enjoy this chapter just as much and that you won't be disappointed about what will follow in the babysitting matter :)

**Sanzo4ever: **Firstly thank you for the lengthy review XD Those really make my day XD If you felt sorry for Light only by that first chapter, I think the events that will follow will break your heart. Sure, I love Light as much as the next person, but I really need to give him a lesson for killing L in the anime . As for taking revenge on Light's gang, I'm still thinking about the best way to write it. I won't accept anything besides the most humiliating prank for them *evil laugh of doom*. Hope you liked reading more *hint hint* XD

**Synonymous Brian: **Indeed, poor Light XD Hope you like the new chapter!

**StandardSpork:** You should be proud of yourself. Your review about Light radiating gay inspired me to write the first part of this chapter about Light being obsessed with packing as much stuff as a teenage girl XD So you may consider it as a dedication to you as my muse :) Don't worry, there will be L/Light but, for the moment, there will be only L annoying the hell out of Light and having the fun of his life while at it XD


	3. Of Sweet Honey and Angry Itching

**Disclaimer: **Do you think Tsugumi Ohba would sue me if I forgot to put a disclaimer? Doesn't he have enough money already?

**Rating:** T for some language now. May go to M in later chapters.

**Pairings:** L/Light, possible hints of Matt/Mello in further chapters.

**Summary:** If there was one thing Light Yagami hated more than kids messing with his shampoo, kids nearly chocking on Lego pieces and let's not forget kids exploding the whole TV set, it was nineteen years old sweet-loving kids with a severe case of chicken pox that loved to stare at him while he slept.

**A/N: **HA! I actually made it in two weeks! Okay, two weeks and three days, but what's three days between friends, right? *runs away from sharp draggers*

I apologize for the time it took me to update, but math's a bitch DX No, really. My class teacher just goes on and on with assignments on the last weeks and I barely have time for anything else T_T The good news is I'm officially in vacation! Yahooo! So you can be sure updates will be a lot quicker now. I'm thinking once a week or even sooner, if I can keep up the pace XD

Thank you to everyone who reviewed (responses at end of chapter)! Each of you gets a BIG chocolate chip cookie from me :)

Now I'll stop babbling and let you get on with the darn story XD

**-**

**-**

**-**

**Forever and a Week  
**

**Chapter 3**

**Of Sweet Honey and Angry Itching**

"Get inside, the four of you!"

Light Yagami was not happy. Not at _all_.

It had taken him twenty minutes to convince the old neighbour that he'd pay for all the damages – unwillingly omitting the fact that the Rues' car had suffered much more damage than the man's sideway. All this time neither of the children or Lawliet had come to his aid.

Light might have actually been grateful for the fact if Matt hadn't gotten out of the car and started cleaning the trash off the wind screen.

With his bare hands.

The kid was currently reeking of yesterday's spoilt dinner and constantly wondering what he did wrong.

Mello stood as far away from the redhead as possible, waving a hand in front of his nose as if to clear the air. The stuck-up little bastard. But, then again, Light was not that far away from doing the same. The kid now possessed the personal hygiene of a pig.

The brunet glared draggers at the four troublemakers that entered the house after him, each carrying their respective bags. They unconsciously lined themselves in front of Light as if expecting orders. And very well they did, noticing the foul mood he was in and deeming him dangerous enough not to mess with.

"You," he started, pointing his index finger at Matt, "are taking a long bath," He didn't stop when the child started whining about how he didn't need such thing, "You," this time he pointed at Mello "will search through his bags for a clean outfit by the time he finishes," he didn't pay any attention to the much louder objection from the blond either, "And you two," he searched through his mind for anything he could tell Lawliet and Near to do to get them out of his hair; finding nothing of the sorts, he continued, "can do whatever the hell you want. Dismissed."

Light turned of his heels, heading for the bathroom to search for some strong head meds. Just as he put his hand on the door handle, Lawliet – of course, who else?! – interrupted him.

"Raito-kun, I believe it is not a wise move to cuss like that in front of the children and, as Raito-kun is the parent figure for the time, I think – "

"Drop it. They already know much more than I do, so there's no use censoring myself." Light stated, ignoring Mello's screeches of "I'm not a child!" and, after a few seconds, continued in a much rougher tone, "And stop scratching, for God's sake! I could probably hear you from the other side of the house!"

The raven, who had been continuously scratching his lower back, stopped suddenly, as if just then realising what he had been doing. Satisfied with the result, Light opened the door and disappeared into the bathroom.

Finally having some privacy, he sighed, enjoying the silence that surrounded the room. This was probably the only room where he'd have peace and quiet the following week. And his room. Light vaguely remembered he had not yet seen his room. He made a mental note to do so and also unpack after taking the pills.

He opened the cabinet, examining delicately each little bottle for medicine, searching for some strong migraine pills. Upon finding nothing to suit his needs he growled out loud. Were these people so happy that they didn't need pills like all the other mortals?!

Sighing overdramatically, he grabbed a bottle of weak painkillers, making a mental note to take at least half a dozen for his unearthly headache.

He exited the bathroom, glad that both the children and the luggage were missing from the hall. Maybe, if he was careful, he could actually control them with time. He quickly dismissed the thought, finding it highly improbable to happen, given the extreme personalities of his charges.

Upon entering the kitchen in search for a glass of water, to brunet was not even remotely surprised to find Lawliet sitting at the table in that little odd way of his, happily eating cake. The pile of now spoilt whipped cream had yet to be cleaned from its place near the fridge door. This angered Light immensely.

"You do know you'll have to clean that sooner or later, don't you?" he muttered to the raven, not even sparing him a glance as he headed to the cupboard, rummaging through it for a glass.

"Whatever does Raito-kun mean?" Lawliet asked innocently. Much too innocently to actually be innocent. Light suddenly turned to glare at the other youth.

"I _mean_ the pile of junk you dropped on the floor earlier. That one over there." he said, voice full of maliciousness, shrugging his head into the direction of the mess.

"Oh, but I have told Raito-kun that I shall not clean it, as it was ultimately Raito-kun's fault it ended up on the floor. Therefore it is Raito-kun who must clean it." the man blinked again innocently.

Light had had more than enough fake innocence for one day. He decided to take action.

Without another word, he took Lawliet's plate of cake from the raven and put it back in the fridge before the man could object. He was actually pleased about the kicked-puppy-look Lawliet developed when stripped of his sugary bliss.

"You won't be getting any close to this fridge until you decide to take responsibility for what you do! Now go to your room and do whatever the hell you want until dinner!"

Lawliet blinked once before standing up and leaving the kitchen. Light was surprised. More than surprised. He was downright shocked. Why did Lawliet leave so willingly when Light knew he felt no remorse for his actions? It would have been expected for the odd youth to argue with Light, or even try to take back his cake. But he just left. The situation reeked suspiciousness.

"You do know he owns a full-stocked fridge in his room, don't you?"

Light turned, startled by the sudden appearance of Near in the same room as him. What was it about the kid never leaving his room?! Light knew it was too good to be true.

Just then the boy's words sunk in. _Of course_. That's why Lawliet left so willingly. And that also explained the otherwise low possibility of the man having tons of maple-syrup at hand. The bastard. Light would have to de-stock that fridge soon. Just to give the man a lesson.

"Can I have another glass of water?" The white-haired kid suddenly asked. What was it with this little guy and water?! And why couldn't he get it for himself?

Sighing, Light filled the glass he had gotten for himself with water and handed it to Near. Deciding the time it took for him to fill another one would be too much, he simply swallowed three of the pills without further aid and headed for his room for a long session of mopping.

He blatantly ignored Near's request for yet _another_ glass of water.

**-**

**-**

**-**

Matt rubbed the towel energetically through his hair while examining the room Mello had claimed for the both of them.

He didn't want to question the weird blond's reasons for deciding to be Matt's roommate, in fear that said blond might bite his head off.

The room was fairly big. It hosted a nice king-sized bed, which Matt absolutely loved. In one corner there was a big wooden wardrobe (unfortunately somebody else had beaten them to it and had hanged all their clothes there) and in the other there was a bookcase holding a massive number of books. Matt could barely read some of the titles on them. In the other side of the room there were a bunch of ugly paintings and a couple of potted plants. Ugh. Matt hated plants. They were just a waste of space and money.

The first thing the redhead had noticed upon entering was the TV. Or lack there of. He had never been able to understand how a person could live without a television in their room. It was like not having enough air to breathe and knowing that soon you will asphyxiate. Good thing Matt had guessed that such a situation might arise and had taken precautions.

His hot-headed roommate was currently examining the bookcase, taking a random book every now and then, reading the title out loud, opening it and proceeding to _sniff _the pages. Matt found it highly disturbing.

Matt found it funny that he had no idea what the other boy's name was. The babysitter – Raito was his name, right? – had never addressed either of them with anything else besides 'you'. He decided it was high time he found out something about this person.

"Do you think it's alright to stay in this room?" he asked the boy. Matt had not had any say in the choosing of the room. When he had exited the first-floor bathroom, clad in a simply huge towel, this blond was waiting for him, holding a pile of his clothes. After he had dressed up, the other boy had wordlessly leaded him into this room.

Although Matt felt a little weirded-out at having a complete stranger rummaging through his stuff, he supposed he would address the matter later.

"Of course it's okay! It's the only free room on the floor. If pretty boy was expecting us to sleep on the couch then I'll kick him in the nuts! Besides, L said it was okay so it must be okay!"

Matt found the blond's obsession with the older man just plain weird. There wasn't much to the guy, in Matt's opinion. He had regular black hair that needed a haircut, big black un-Japanese looking eyes and was sickly pale. He also spoke weirdly and stared too much. Not to mention he was going to send Raito over the edge with that scratching.

"If you say so... er, what's your name?" Matt asked in what he thought was subtlety.

"Mello." the blond answered simply, not taking his gaze from a particularly huge tomb he could barely hold. "You're Matt." he stated.

"Yes."

Unable to find any other conversation topic, the redhead decided to drop it and started unpacking the urgent necessities.

He first headed to one of the smaller bags and opened it. With much care, he extracted an slightly outdated laptop – already one year old – complete with mouse and external hard-drive, a playstation and a couple of old gameboys.

After placing the laptop and playstation on the nearby end table – after getting rid of the hideous potted plant on it – he noticed Mello staring at him, his mouth agape.

"What?" Matt asked defensively, not noticing what the problem was.

"Man, are you serious?" the blond continued, pointing funnily in Matt's direction.

"I... think so. What about?"

"You mean I broke my back carrying your stupid playstation?!"

"Hey, it's not stupid!"

"It is if you bring it all the way from wherever with you! And if you make me carry it!"

"I didn't ask you to carry it!" Matt yelled this time, not caring that the other might hear him and that Raito might come here and throw a fit. He had never ever met such a bastard!

"Well..." the blond stammered, searching for a reply. His face had turned red from anger and yelling. "... well you would have!"

Unable to find any retort to the blond's stupidity, Matt simply yelled, louder than before: "Fuck you!", fully expecting a "Fuck you, too!". He was disappointed, as Mello simply kicked his bag – the one containing clothes, thankfully – and went back to checking books, visibly mopping.

Deciding he needed something to calm his nerves, Matt connected the PlayStation's cable to the nearby plug, turned on the machine, and started playing a violent fighting game.

He knew Mello was staring at him. But he'd be darned if he turned. In the short break the game needed to start another round, Matt could hear the blond rustling something in the vague direction of the bed. Once again he chose to ignore the bastard.

He had completely forgotten his _bags_ were placed in the middle of said bed.

"What the hell's this?" the half disgusted half interested tone of the blond unwillingly attracted Matt's attention from the game.

Noticing the little snobbish bastard was searching through his bags made him drop the came control and be KN'ed by the bulky adversary of his player.

"Hey, you can't just search through that!" he yelled, making his way to the bed.

"Why? Do you have something to hide?" Mello grinned mischievously, daring Matt to get closer. He suddenly lifted a transparent plastic bag filled with a thick black liquid and regarded it curiously. "What's this shit?"

"Black paint." Matt had now sat down right next to Mello, watching his every move carefully. "I want to dye my car here, since dad doesn't let me do it at home. Says I'll dirty the whole house and/or lawn.

"Oh. Wait, what car?"

Matt sighed and decided he might as well tell this exorbitant blond the whole truth. He fished a small black remote control from his baggy pants and clicked a few buttons.

"This car!"

Suddenly a small red remote-controlled car jumped like mad from the same bag that had contained the laptop and PlayStation and started running laps around the room at Matt's command.

The redhead felt surprisingly proud when he saw the excited look on Mello's face.

By the time said boy yelled "Awesome!" Matt was already grinning along with the blond.

Maybe, just maybe, Mello wasn't that bad.

**-**

**-**

**-**

Twenty-one.

Twenty-two.

Twenty – wait, those're two! Twenty-four.

Twenty –

Just how many black points were there on that ceiling?

Light jumped off the bed, deciding for a walk.

Those darn painkillers surely weren't doing their job. It had nearly been three hours and his head _still_ hurt like hell. The brunet had even spent the last hour lying in bed, reading one of the books he had brought from home, just in hopes that the headache might pass. Sure, it didn't help that those kids – plus Lawliet; let's _never_ forget Lawliet, that bastard! – were constantly on his mind. He was practically expecting the whole house to explode, with so many calamities inhabiting it.

It had taken him roughly two hours to unpack. Sure, it might have been less, had he not fussed over every little thing and contemplated for a long time its perfect place. It was only because he was anticipating his moves so he wouldn't have to move everything later. He called this art.

Even with his personal touches, the room seemed... Blank. Empty. Like nobody had lived in it for a very long time. And not to mention darn small. It could barely fit a single-person bed decorated with boring, grey sheets, a small, formerly empty dresser and a wooden desk with a chair. Oh, and the usual cheap pieces of art and a potted plant on the desk.

It was nowhere near Light's expectations. But, then again, he should be glad he didn't have to sleep on the couch for the entire week.

Noticing it was nearing six in the evening, Light decided he should make an appearance and possibly start cooking dinner for his charges and himself. He also needed to dust the attic and arrange the old bed there so Matt and Mello had a place to sleep for the night. Not that he would have minded the two little living disasters sleeping on the floor a night or two...

Speaking of which, they must be in Lawliet's room, considering Mello's disturbing affection for the man. Light sincerely hoped they ate all the sweets from that secret fridge of his.

Upon opening the door, the first thing Light heard was music. Loud, cheap, pop music. Sure it wasn't loud enough to alert the entire house, cue why Light had not heard it earlier, but still... Lawliet had an audio system? And listened to pop music? In the middle of the evening?

That man was getting weirder and weirder.

Deciding to further annoy the bastard – he was the boss, Lawliet himself had said it – Light made his way up the stairs. It was more than surprising to find out that the music was coming not from Lawliet's room, as he had originally expected, but from the Rue couple's bedroom.

Taking a deep breath, the brunet opened the door, not sure what to expect.

It certainly wasn't a couple of four-foot devils who tended to be called children, surrounded by and impressive collection of electronics, playing a racing game on a PlayStation and listening to music at a simply huge boom-box.

It seemed they certainly weren't expecting him either.

"YOU!" he yelled, suddenly filled with blind rage once again. "OUT!"

"Wha – ?" Matt squeaked, dropping his control. "I thought... I... Mello said that L said... I..." his stammering stopped once Mello hit him behind the head, muttering under his breath.

But it was too late.

Really, that kid was never going to be able to work with the FBI or CIA or any other job that implied keeping secrets. Marriage was also out of the question for him...

Light quickly directed his death glare towards Mello, ready to devour the poor soul.

"_You_. What makes you think for even _one_ second that you precious _'L'_ has any idea what he's talking about?! I'm in charge here and I didn't give any of you permission to enter this room! Now... GET OUT OF HERE!"

As the two children were shutting down their electronics Light vaguely heard a door slam behind him. He knew who that room belonged to. And he knew why it had been shut. It seemed Lawliet was capable of much more emotion than Light had originally thought.

Well, let him mop then in his precious little room with his precious little fridge.

Mello seemed livid. Of course, it was to be expected, as Light has insulted his model in life. The brunet actually considered he had done the kid a favour.

When he felt he had calmed himself enough, Light added. "Don't you two worry. As much as I would have liked it, Mrs. Rue had made sure you won't be sleeping on the floor. After dinner I'll have to clean the attic and make it liveable for you. With your help, of course." he added, mentally grinning at the twin groans. "Now scoot!"

Proud of himself, Light descended the stairs, making his way towards the kitchen. Once there, he started searching the cupboards for anything useful in his dinner-making.

Hm... He could make rice and he found some soy sauce and the fridge had to host some meat for –

The brunet's thoughts were interrupted by the devilish duo of Matt and Mello entering the kitchen. Great. Just _marvellous_. He had _really_ missed those two (please note sarcasm).

"What do you want?" Light grabbed a frying pan from the cupboard, examining it thoroughly.

"We're hungry." Mello stated. He had his arms crossed, lips twisted in a pout and eyes glaring draggers. Just the epitome of a spoiled brat.

"So?" the brunet mocked.

"What do you mean 'so'? You're responsible for us so you have to feed us!" It was funny how the kid could go from mildly irritable to completely berserk in a matter of seconds with a single well placed word.

"Yeah, yeah, don't worry, you'll be 'fed'. In time."

Light had to turn back to hide his smirk. Mello's face now closely resembled a tomato. Just a few more seconds and he will explode.

Unfortunately, Lawliet chose that moment to enter the kitchen himself and headed for the fridge, blatantly ignoring everyone else.

"Hey, where do you think you're going?!"

Lacking a better weapon, Light decided a frying pan would have to suffice in his mission. Without a hint of remorse, he hit the piece of metal on the other man's back, right between his shoulder-blades. When the raven did not stop, he grabbed Lawliet's sleeve and pulled him back, just before the man could touch the fridge's door.

"I told you you're not getting anything from there! You'll just have to wait for dinner like the rest."

Lawliet, still not acknowledging anyone, pulled his sleeve from Light's gasp, turned around and sat at the table. Anyone could see that he was still mopping. Light was ready to lecture him on how to sit properly at the table but decided against it. He had more important things to do...

"Stop scratching! I swear I'm not treating the infection you're going to have!"

"Don't criticize L anymore! He's smarter than you'll ever be!" Mello yelled angrily, kicking Light's shin.

The brunet yelped in surprise and started skipping in one leg, hand rubbing his poor, abused calf pitifully. He was sure he was the current laughing matter.

In a matter of seconds he released his leg and grabbed Mello's forearm. He bent down just enough so that his face was barely inches from the boy's.

"Listen, kid," Light started, his teeth grinding, "if your L was so smart, he'd be the one taking care of you and I wouldn't be in this mess! As it is, I'm the boss in this house this week and you will do as I say!" he released the kid and headed for the fridge, deciding he might as well get some work done while she wiped the floor with Mello.

"No, you're not! And you can't tell me what to do!" Mello fought bravely, trying to land a healthy kick on Light's shin again, but the twelve year old didn't stand a chance to do so when Light was expecting him.

"Oh, but I can and I will! And if you disobey me one more time_eeEEE_ – AAAAAH!" Light's interminable monologue was suddenly interrupted as he accidentally slipped on the spoilt piece of cake on the floor, still unattended.

He tried his best to grab the fridge handle and stabilise himself before a tragedy happened but, unfortunately, luck wasn't on his side. He gracelessly fell on his backside, covering his precious pants in whipped cream.

_Fuck, my back hurts! I'll kill Lawliet for this one!_

Matt and Mello (especially Mello) were laughing like mad, Lawliet was _still_ staring into space and, to top it all, the doorbell started ringing.

He quickly got up, trying to maintain the little dignity he still had and headed for the front door, trying his best to ignore le laughs. He was more than a little surprised to see a pizza boy holding a whole stack of pizzas and a huge piece of cake to-go, ready to receive his pay.

"Um, hello. How may I help you?" the brunet tried, hoping for Lawliet's sake that the pizza boy had simply mistaken the address.

"Hello, sir. Here's your order: Four pepperoni pizzas and a triple piece of strawberry cake. That'll be five thousand six hundred yen*, sir, tip included." the goy gave another shit-eating grin, extending one hand for the cash.

"Err... just a moment." Light muttered, resisting the urge to just strangle the annoying boy, barely a year or two older than he himself, and re-entered the house, slamming the door loudly in the poor guy's face. "RYUUZAKI! Move it here!"

The called raven exited the kitchen, not paying Light any attention, still visibly sulking. _Oh, for the love of... _

"Raito-kun, I don't appreciate being called 'Ryuuzaki' by you. Only Reika-san and Masahiro-san call me that and they themselves are well enough." Oh, so the guy was touchy even about his first name now?!

"Well, I don't appreciate being called 'Raito-kun' either and still –" the brunet stopped mid-rant, remembering the task at hand. "Did you order pizza?" A nod. "May I enquire why?" A shrug. Why, the nerve... "I hope you know that you won't be having this luxury every day. Your parents didn't leave me emergency money to buy you pizza, you know."

"Due to a shortage of cake in my personal stock and Raito-kun's refusal to grant me pass to this fridge I have decided to take matters into my own hands." the man answered proudly – or what would have seemed proudly, if he wasn't trying desperately to scratch his calf with his other foot.

"Figures." Light muttered, just loud enough for Lawliet to hear.

He re-opened the front door, paid the still grinning delivery boy his money – absolutely no tip – and slammed the door again, just for good measure. Holding the stack of pizzas, the brunet entered the kitchen, placed the food on the table and took a box for himself. He blatantly ignored the disturbing look of utter adoration Matt was throwing the food.

"Make sure Near doesn't starve." he muttered to no one in particular, not really caring if the albino boy did starve or not.

Without another word, Light exited the kitchen and locked himself in his temporary room.

Again.

**-**

**-**

**-**

Mello was angry. He was goddamn fuming.

He had been humiliated by the single person he hated most – at least at the moment. The cake-tripping incident, although hilarious, didn't even count as it had been L's doing. Pretty Boy was never _ever_ going to boss him around. And Mello had to give him a tough lesson, just to be sure.

And to top it all, the cheese in his pizza tasted funny. He had never been one for pizza. It was just a load of cheese and tomato sauce with a bunch of random stuff thrown together on a slice of bread. Practically a sandwich, only circular.

But it seemed Matt didn't mind the icky cheese at all. The boy had long since finished a whole pizza and was currently eying Mello's share hungrily. He had tomato sauce and mozzarella smeared across his mouth and looked very much like a little puppy eying his master. _Simply degrading,_ the blond thought, taking another bite from his slice of pizza.

L had taken a box of pizza up to N's room and had come back down to eat his cake. He was now close to finishing it and had yet to snap out of it. Mello knew it was because Pretty Boy had both insulted L's intelligence and called him by the name he hated most. Simply unforgivable.

Mello had to do something about this. He had to avenge L, no matter what.

The blond glanced at Matt, whom had stolen a slice off of Mello's place and was chewing happily. Well, two heads thought better than one. Okay, two and a half heads, since Mello was far too intelligent to have one single head (his father always told him that). But, then again, he doubted Matt had one whole head so in the end it still rounded up to two heads. Whatever.

"We have to avenge L!" Mello suddenly whispered, trying to not be heard by the raven haired man.

"Wha – ? Why?" Matt asked, the subtlety of whispering completely lost on him. He had a big speck of ketchup on his right cheek. Mello barely resisted the urge to get a paper towel and wipe the slob-ish boy clean. It was only because he liked things impeccable, his mind added quickly.

"Quiet!" he elbowed the other boy.

"Oh." Matt finally caught up and started whispering himself. "What do you mean 'avenge'?"

"I mean teach Pretty Boy a lesson! Show him not to mess with us!"

"But this Raito guy isn't that bad. He'd be really cool if he shut up once in a while." Matt had said the unforgivable. It was unwise to further let him in with the plan if he was fraternizing with the enemy.

"Whatever." Mello muttered, half sulking, and pushed his box of pizza out of Matt's reach. Serves the bastard right for being against him.

"Hey!" the redhead stared pitifully at the now out of reach pizza. "I never said I wouldn't help you!"

Mello smirked. Just as planned.

Now to find a good way to humiliate Pretty Boy.

The blond had already been thinking intently for a couple of minutes when he noticed L getting up from the table. The black-haired man headed to one of the cupboards and opened it – all the while scratching his buttocks – grabbing a big jar of honey.

Honey.

_Honey._

Mello suddenly grinned evilly.

This was going to be fun.

**-**

**-**

**-**

There was certainly something funny with this pizza.

For the past ten minutes Light had even contemplated sewing the firm. He quickly dismissed the thought soon after as he was too tired for such nonsense.

He had been locked in his room for a couple of hours already, wallowing in self pity. That Mello brat had to be the Devil himself! Light couldn't imagine spending a whole week in the kid's company. Not to mention there was also Matt, Near and, of course, Lawliet!

Light took a deep breath to calm himself. He had been doing that constantly in the past hour, as murderous thoughts related to his charges constantly invaded his mind. Not that he found them unwelcome but Masahiro was sure to have his head if he slaughtered his kids and nephews.

Takada had called half of hour ago to update him with his homework. Well, that among telling him every bit of unwanted gossip she remembered. Honestly, women were a menace.

Deciding on a long and relaxing shower, Light grabbed a towel and a spare change of clothes. He contemplated a second searching for his shampoo, but dismissed the thought, remembering that there was a bottle of shampoo and one of conditioner in the bathroom next to his room.

All ears for any suspicious child voices, the brunet genius exited his temporary room. Glad that those little monsters had decided to scoot upstairs, he entered the bathroom. He turned on the water, testing it to see if it was hot enough and started undressing.

_I can survive those __little bastards one week, _he thought to himself, _they're just kids! Yeah, I've just got carried away for a while, but there's no need to turn this into a tragedy. I'm a genius. A frigging genius! I can take care of a bunch of kids and a lunatic!_

Feeling a bit better due to his self-assurance, Light stepped into the shower, letting the hot water wash over his tense muscles. A long shower was all the needed. After he finished he would just go and get the lot of them and clean the attic as planned. He had everything under control.

He extended his hand for the bottle of shampoo and poured a bit in his palm. He vaguely noticed the pleasant sweet smell of the potion. Figures they'd have sweet smelling shampoo, with Lawliet lurking about.

He gently massaged the shampoo into his scalp, eyes closing in relaxation. Now that was life. He might actually have to ask the Rue couple where they procured this shampoo from, it gave a very relaxing feel.

Light continued to massage the shampoo for a few minutes, before he realised that no suds were produced. He removed his hands from his hair and gazed at them. Nope, no suds there either. Gently, as if afraid of what he might find out, he brought one hand to his nose, smelling it.

It smelled like...

_Honey_.

Light barely contained a scream of frustration as he threw the whole bottle against the opposite wall.

They were _SO_ dead.

**-**

**-**

**-**

Light finished his last math equation with an exaggerated move of his hand and closed his notebook.

It was half past one at night. Just the hour to put his plans into action.

He had blatantly lied to his father when the man had called, claiming that absolutely nothing out of the ordinary had happened in the Rue household. It seemed his parents were already worried about him and Sayu had even asked if she could come and visit him the next day. Light, of course, had denied the request, mentally reminding himself that he had to give those brats a lesson first.

It had taken the teen prodigy nearly an hour to get the honey out of his hair. Well, most of it. His once brilliant chestnut hair now looked greasy and darkened. Light was more than appalled by the matter. _Just the more reason to take care of those little devils_.

Deciding that everybody else must have gone to sleep, he exited his room, mentally laughing evilly. He could already picture the look on the face of his unlucky victim. And that made the situation all the more funny.

He entered the kitchen and started searching through a random cupboard. He could swear he had seen a jar of garlic paste somewhere around there. Despite knowing that no one was awake at this hour, he didn't make any noise. He couldn't be caught wandering about at this hour or his plan would be ruined.

Just as if his thoughts were heard – or maybe simply because someone up there hated him – a door opened loudly on the upper level and steps could be heard descending the stairs. Mentally cussing colourfully, Light closed the cupboard and wanted to exit the kitchen. He stopped mid-step, realising that he would be caught immediately and took hiding.

Unfortunately, the first place he found safe was under the table.

Light silently swore some more, trying to hide himself behind the long table-cloth.

He felt his blood starting to boil when he noticed that the person who entered the kitchen was... Lawliet. The raven was still wearing his day clothes and didn't look like he had gotten the least bit of sleep yet. Not to mention he was eagerly scratching his backside, thinking nobody could see him. Light cringed at the man's lack of manners.

Lawliet headed for the fridge, opened it – of course, why else would he be here? – and took the last few cookies left. He stuffed them in his mouth one by one as he left the kitchen. Light could hear his steps on the upper level and his door shutting just as loudly.

_Phew, that was close,_ Light thought as he got out from under the table. _Now to solve more important matters_.

Nearly hitting his head against the table, the brunet got out from his hiding and proceeded to search the cupboards. A few minutes later, his hand found a medium sized jar filled with a fawn coloured substance.

The label read _Garlic Pasta_.

Bingo.

**-**

**-**

**-**

Light stiffened a yawn as he got into bed.

He had just changed into his comfortable flannel pyjamas and finished preparing his schoolbag for the next day. Good thing Lawliet was driving him to school; he had time to sleep in a bit.

He set his alarm clock, placed it next to his bed and closed his eyes, ready for a few hours of well deserved rest.

Unfortunately for him, fate had other ideas.

The brunet jumped a mile in the air when a foreign telephone-like sound awoke him. It took him a few seconds to snap out of his sleepy state and notice the vague direction of the ring. He moodily got out of bed and headed for the far end of the room, where the sound was coming from.

He immediately recognized what it was. Another one of those weird radio-stations he had seen in the kitchen. With and over-exaggerated sigh he picked up the receiver and answered.

"Yes?"

_It better not be Near asking for another glass of water or I swear I'll – _

"Raito-kun." it was Lawliet. "Could you please come to my room?"

"Ryuuzaki, why're you up at this hour? Can't it wait until morning?" Light answered in mock sleepiness. He didn't even realise he used Lawliet's other name until the man at the other end went silent for a few seconds.

"Lawliet?" Light tried again, this time correcting himself. It was too late in the night for this kind of stuff.

"I do not think it can wait, Raito-kun. I'm afraid I might have a fever."

_Just what I needed. _

"Alright, I'll be there in a minute."

Light put the receiver back and barely resisted the urge to scream out all his frustrations. Again. Just when he could have gotten nearly five hours of sleep this bastard had to go and get a fever!

The brunet shut the door loudly behind himself, not caring if he might wake up the entire household – that is, of course, if any of them were actually sleeping. He ascended the steps forcefully and knocked loudly on the door. When he heard a low voice saying "Enter." he did so, making sure his face was perfectly contortioned in a scowl.

His mask nearly slipped for a second as he took in his surroundings. The room looked like a freaking junk museum. The walls were nearly completely filled with bookcases, overstuffed with thick tombs. In the few free spaces were: an old dresser, a desk – full of collage papers, notebooks, pens and electronic parts – and, in the corner farthest from the door, a white full sized fridge, probably stuffed with sweets – at least Near hasn't lied about that. The floor was nearly completely covered with clothes, papers and candy wrappers.

Directly opposite the door lay a queen-sized bed, covered in dark sheets and Lawliet. The man, who was in the middle of said bed, lay in his favourite position, knees close to his chest, one thumb between his lips and the other hand typing away at an outdated silver laptop. The gadget was out of Light's seeing range, but the brunet sincerely hoped Lawliet wasn't searching porn sites.

"Good morning, Raito-kun," the raven greeted monotonously, not even raising his gaze from the laptop, reminding Light once again how late in the night it was.

"Whatever. Where do you keep the thermometer?" Light didn't have time for pleasantries. He needed to get back to his room and get some well deserved sleep.

Lawliet pointed towards his nightstand, never taking his eyes off of the computer, and Light went to it and opened the first drawer. He found a bag of multi-coloured candies, a bunch of papers on advanced chemistry, a bottle of strong painkillers – Light really needed to borrow some of those – another few bottles of medicaments and a small carton box which contained a thermometer. Bingo!

He grabbed the thermometer and, without further ado, stuffed it halfway into Lawliet's mouth, nearly chocking the man. Lawliet merely adjusted the thermometer and continued to work at the computer.

Light wasn't a curious person by nature. It usually came with the fact that he was a genius and already knew close to everything. But whatever Lawliet was doing at that computer was probably one of the many mysteries of the world. He sat down on the edge of the bed, close to the ruffled young man – but not too close! – and discreetly glanced at the computer screen.

Now, it had to be mentioned that he hadn't considered Lawliet smart for one second since he had met him. Quite the contrary, as the other man looked like he didn't know what planet his lived on. So it came on as quite a shock seeing the incredibly complicated diagram on human anatomy the raven was working on. And Lawliet didn't seem to even blink as he wrote the complex medical denominations onto the diagram, making all the necessary translations in Latin.

There were things there even Light himself had never heard of.

He was ready to ask about a particularly funny sounding word when something caught his attention. Lawliet's hand had stopped typing and started scratching the other forearm. Light had had quite enough of this scratching business for one day!

"Stop that!" he reached and grabbed Lawliet's hand, startling the other youth. The man had probably already forgotten he was not alone in the room. "Why are you always scratching?"

Lawliet turned his gaze from the computer and examined Light for a second. He looked even weirder with the thermometer hanging from between his lips. He simply answered "It itches." and turned back to the laptop.

"What an excuse. Let me see that." Light grabbed the other man's arm and raised the sleeve up to his elbow.

The smooth, pale, hairless skin of Lawliet's forearm was marked by three angry red spots.

_Mosquitoes? _

Light raised the sleeve a little more and noticed another two spots close to Lawliet's elbow.

_Don't tell me – _

Already panicking, the brunet got closer to Lawliet and brushed away some of the man's overgrown hair from his neck. He counted another four spots gracing the raven's slender neck.

_No__ way! This can't be!_

Lawliet was already looking questioningly at him. Light ignored him, crawled behind the man and shamelessly raised his blouse, uncovering half of Lawliet's back.

The brunet tried not to get distracted by the soft-looking pale skin, or the way every vertebra seemed to stick out on the man's back, or even the little beauty-mark close to Lawliet's left shoulder blade. Not that he wanted to look at all those. Nope, not a chance.

In any case, his gaze was immediately drawn to the multitude of angry red spots that covered the entirety of the raven's back.

Light mentally swore, dropping the shirt's edge.

"Shit." he muttered, mimicking his thoughts.

He crawled back to Lawliet's front, pushing the now forgotten laptop out of the way and grabbed the young man's face between his hands, examining it thoroughly.

"If Raito-kun wanted to have sex with me, Raito-kun should have merely said so." Lawliet said, eyes wide, obvious to the current situation.

The teen felt his face burn at the inappropriate comment, but trained his features in an angry scowl. "Shut up, bastard."

Light angrily brushed Lawliet's fringe away from his' forehead and blatantly glared at the multitude of red marks that covered Lawliet's forehead and cheeks. How could he have not noticed this?!

He released the raven haired man and sat down on the edge of the bed, face covered by his hand, exhausted.

"Tell me, Lawliet," his voice was slightly muffled by his hand, "have you ever had chicken pox?"

Lawliet shook his head, eyes still wide.

"Well, you have now." Light sighed deeply. How come everything bad had to happen to him in one day?!

"Oh." the other youth didn't seem too affected by the matter. "Has Raito-kun had chicken pox?"

"Yeah." he didn't even bother to look at Lawliet.

"Ah, so I must have gotten it from Raito-kun."

"Eight. Years. Ago." Light clarified, teeth grinding. He finally turned to look at Lawliet again. "Do you have some sort of ointment or salve around here?"

"Bathroom."

Muttering to himself, Light got up from the bed and entered the first floor bathroom, which seemed a faithful replica of the one near his room, the only difference being the presence of a bathtub instead of a shower cabin. He quickly grabbed the easily noticeable tube of ointment form the cabinet and went back to Lawliet's room.

He was deeply glad of the lack of noise from the other rooms.

As soon as he got into hand length range of Lawliet, he brutally grabbed the thermometer from the man's mouth, glaring ruthlessly at the number it indicated. One hundred two**. Well over normal. Great. Just _great_.

"Okay, take your shirt off." he muttered at the raven, still glaring at the thermometer. Lawliet simply stared at him, hand frozen above the keyboard and blinked. Twice, just for emphasis. "Don't look at me like that! Your back's a mess and in desperate need of ointment!" he vaguely wondered why he felt the need to explain himself.

The teen waited impatiently for Lawliet to remove his long-sleeved shirt and resume his previous position, once again typing away at the computer. Rolling his eyes overdramatically, Light climbed back in the bed, positioning himself behind Lawliet and began applying the salve on the man's back in light, smooth stokes.

He didn't comment either verbally or mentally at the softness of his companion's skin.

"Is that thing for collage?" Light tried to make conversation. He was not interested in Lawliet's answer in the slightest, but found the constant silence annoying.

"No. I have accepted a company's request for this diagram for a significant recompense." Huh. Figures, even To-Oh didn't give projects _that_ complicated.

Light suddenly remembered another incredibly important fact.

"So, you're not going to class for a while now, right?" Of course he was not interested in Lawliet's classes! But he had to be more subtle about his question.

"I'm afraid I won't be able to drive Raito-kun to school this week." Darn. He saw through it.

Light remained silent for a while. He simply applied the salve onto Lawliet's skin, finishing the back and starting with the left arm.

He was unable to stiffen a yawn. Okay, two.

"Raito-kun should go to sleep. He has school tomorrow."

"Shut up." Yawn. "I'm not sleepy."

"If Raito-kun says so." Lawliet paused typing to scratch his forearm.

"I– _Stop that!_" He slapped the other youth's hand away. Lawliet looked slightly offended. "If you scratch you'll get scars. From now on if I catch you scratching I'll tie you down –" realising his improper formulating, he coughed loudly, glad the other man couldn't notice his blush in the dim light, "– or something. Got that?" A nod. "Good, now take off your pants." He felt simply idiotic at the innuendo of the last statement.

"Raito-kun, I think – "

"You don't think well. Now –"

"I refuse to –"

"I said _take them off_!"

"_No_!"

"RYUUZAKI –"

A knock at the door. "Hey, you two!" A brutal bash. "Some people are trying to –" Bash, " –sleep–" Bash, " –here! Keep it quiet, will you?"

Mello re-entered the Rue couple's room, slamming the door loudly after him. Light glared draggers at the door for a few seconds, before turning his evil eye on Lawliet.

"This is all your fault." He felt infinitely childish saying this, but it was very true. If Lawliet had not acted so childish this commotion would not have been caused.

The raven did not say anything, but simply grabbed his white shirt and put it back on. The ointment would probably smear onto the material within seconds, but he did not seem to care.

He was extending his hand to grab the laptop once again, when Light stopped him.

"I don't care when that thing is due, but you're getting some sleep." The brunet placed the machine on the little available space on Lawliet's desk, careful not to mess up any of the stray papers.

"I am not sleepy. Raito-kun is the one in need of sleep."

"And I will sleep. As soon as I knock you out."

"That isn't very polite."

"That's the reason I said it. Now go to sleep already!"

Lawliet made himself comfortable in bed, covering himself in blankets up to his neck, ready to sleep. Or not so much, as his eyes were wide as saucers, staring at Light's every move.

"Alright." Light said, annoyed to no end, "_Okay,_ then!" He laid himself on his back in the free space next to Lawliet, resting his hands under his head, glaring at the ceiling. "Then I'll stay here until you decide to fall asleep."

Lawliet didn't answer, but continued to stare at the teen. Unnerved, Light turned, his back now facing the weird raven haired man.

He waited. And waited. And waited some more. But, no matter how much time passed, he could still feel Lawliet's awkward stare on the back of his head. Just as he was getting sleepy himself, he tried to strike a conversation once again.

"So, why do you hate being called Ryuuzaki?" It was extremely easy for a person as Light to notice the way Lawliet seemed to flinch every time someone – specifically Light – called him that.

If the other youth was surprised at Light's question, he definitely did not show it. "It is not my native name. Only Reika-san calls me that nowadays. One cannot tell one's mother not to call one by the name one's mother had given to one."

Light chuckled, feeling his eyes start to close.

"Using 'one' that many times gets annoying." he said in a low tone, barely stiffening a yawn.

"That may be so."

Another yawn.

"Are you ready to do to sleep now?"

"No."

"Very well, then I'll just wait for you to fall asleep, even if it takes me all night." Light smirked to himself. It's not like he's too sleepy anyway.

He couldn't stiffen the next yawn.

After a few minutes of listening to the other's breathing and his own, Light decided to close his eyes for a minute. Just a minute, no more.

The darkness behind his eyelids was very welcoming. It was understandable to feel tired. He had had the worst day of his life and the next day didn't promise anything much better.

But, then again, there was still the prank. Oh, he'll show those little midgets that he's not to be messed with. He was a respectable A++ student. He shouldn't be stuck with a bunch of midgets who –

And, slowly, his mental rant drifted away and soon he lost all conscious thought.

**-**

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**-**

L permitted himself a small smile as he heard Light Yagami's breathing slowing. The teen had finally fallen asleep.

Light Yagami was truly a very curious person, the raven thought as he scratched an itchy part on his arm.

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*** I have no idea if this is correct. I have used an online converter to convert from dollars to yen.**

*** I use Celsius degrees so, again, I'm not sure if it's well converted. **

**-**

I think Light's well on his way to OOC land... Why can I write canon personalities? T_T

There it is. Like it? Hate it? Confused like hell by it? Please let me know XD Every reviewer gets a... let me think... a strawberry shortcake from me XD The kind L loves in the anime :)

**-**

Now for the responses:

**LoquaciousLycanthropic:** Thank you very much! I hope the wait was worth it :)

**anime-fushigi:** Aww your review made me smile ^_^ Unfortunately for poor L, he doesn't have a rash, but something better (or worse, depends how you see it XD). Yes, there probably will be some Matt/Mello stuff, but just hints. Let's not forget they're just kids! Even I would feel bad tainting them... too much. Thank you so much for your review and I hope you enjoy this chapter as well ^_^

**Poog:** Thank you :) Hope you enjoy further reading :)

**StandardSpork:** The snakes part really made me laugh XD Don't worry about rambling, we all have it in us XD Thank you for reading so far and I hope the next parts will be just as enjoyable :)

**Hentai-Otaku:** He sure will probably end up as a teenaged girl with male genitals if I don't start writing him in character anytime soon XD Thank you for reviewing :)

**Timely-Exit:** If now you feel sorry for Light, you'll probably deem me as a sadist after the next few chapter XD And don't worry about L, he's having the fun of his life XD

**Zena Silverwing: **Awww, how can you hate Near? Okay, he's not my favourite character either, actually quite annoying at times... but he's so darn CUTE I'll let him get away with it XD And I hope I haven't made Matt too much of an idiot... just a little out of sorts with reality XD I needed him to be somewhat of a slob and obvious so he'll contrast with Mello's snobbishness and hot-temper... that'll guarantee quite some annoying on our favourite blond's part XD Thank you for reviewing and hope you like this chapter too! :)

**Black-Dranzer-1119: **Don't be XD It's not like he isn't a bastard too XD Thanks for reviewing! :)

**nateriver88:** Thank you for the review and the praise :) Hope you enjoy this chapter too!

**blueberry-90:** And here's the update you were wondering about :) Hope you like it :)

**NX-Loveless-XN:** And you have yet to see anything really bad, my friend XD Thanks for reviewing!

**emenin001928:** Here's the update :) I'm glad you enjoy it so much XD

**xINFRAxREDx:** Thank you for your praise :) I'm actually pretty worried about the portrayals... well, at least Light's T_T Hope you like this chapter too :)

**.Heart: **You're right, we certainly are all perverts... it's just that some of us are better at showing it XD I'm glad you like Matt, he's kind of missing substance at the moment, but I hope he'll get a personality soon XD I enjoy MelloxNear too but I find that, as long as Matt's involved, he has to end up with Mello XD And hold your horses! They're barely 10-11-12 years! Isn't it a little to early to think of threesomes? XD Thanks so much for your review, it made me smile XD

**rion:** Thank you for the review :) And don't pity Light. Consider it payback for killing L XD I'm having the fun of my life getting revenge on him XD

**LAST Note: **For everyone who pitied Light... Is that all you can take? XD Don't worry, the fun's just beginning XD *evil laugh*


	4. Suspicious minds

**Disclaimer: **Not mine. Just having some non-profit fun here...

**Rating:** M as of this chapter, as there is a _tad_ too much swearing for a mere T ^_^'

**Pairings:** L/Light, with hints of Matt/Mello.

**Summary:** If there was one thing Light Yagami hated more than kids messing with his shampoo, kids nearly chocking on Lego pieces and let's not forget kids exploding the whole TV set, it was nineteen years old sweet-loving kids with a severe case of chicken pox that loved to stare at him while he slept.

**A/N: **Must know for all writers... Don't _ever_ (_**EVER!!!**_) watch 'Ringu' at night if you don't want your humor muse to go into a coma for one week. Enough said T_T

Thank you everyone for your reviews and faves and alerts (responses at the end of the chapter) ^_^ No matter I'm doing at the moment, when I get a mail alerting me of a review I always go into 'MUST WRITE!' mode just for you guys XD It's a killer to do that when you lack inspiration, through...

Now, on with the story. Please comment afterwards! Constructive criticism is also very much appreciated :)

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**Forever and a week**

**Chapter 4**

**Suspicious Minds**

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" –AAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Light immediately snapped awake at the pitiful cry.

It took him a few seconds and some eye-rubbing to realise he wasn't in his bed, room or even house. Then the former day's events drawled on him, making him shut his eyes again.

Of course. The kids. The babysitting. Law- _Shit, Lawliet!_

He gently cracked open a shy eye, only to come face to face with the blank gaze of one Rue Ryuuzaki-Lawliet. Didn't the guy get any sleep al _all_?

"What're you looking at?" Light drawled angrily and pulled a spare pillow over his face.

Who cared about stupid Lawliet anyway? The most important thing was that the prank had _worked_.

And, by the sound of it, just on the person he wanted it to.

**-**

**-**

**-**

"What the hell're _you_ looking at?!"

Matt gaped funnily at the blond who had just slammed the dormitory's door loudly. Did Mello actually make a habit out of screaming at ungodly hours and waking up the entire household? Matt didn't know about the others, but he definitely needed his beauty sleep.

"What's the whole ruckus about?" the redhead asked, rubbing his eyes as he got of the Rue couple's bed, which he had shared with Mello overnight.

Mello was crossing the room from one end to the other, tightly gripping a green toothbrush close to his lips, seemingly deep in thought. In the little time spent with the blond, Matt had come to the conclusion that a plotting Mello was a very dangerous Mello.

"Pretty Boy!" Mello suddenly exploded, pointing the toothbrush accusingly at Matt, as if the poor redhead was at fault. "This is all about Pretty Boy! The bastard thinks he can just make fun of me and get away with it! The nerve of him!" he started pacing again, as of nothing happened.

"Well, it's not like you didn't start– err" Matt squeaked as Mello turned to death glare at him, "I mean, it's not like _we_ didn't start it so... we should have been expecting something. Out of curiosity, what did he do?"

Mello gazed contemplatively at him for a few seconds, slowly tapping the toothbrush on his lower lip. He finally seemed to dismiss a thought and started pacing once again. "Doesn't matter. What _does_ matter is that we must get back at him... all that while... making sure we'll not get into shit ourselves... hmm..."

During Mello's monologue and pacing Matt, who had started dressing himself for the day, just finished adjusting his black and white striped T-shirt, all the while gazing warily at the blond. Mello, still dressed in his light orange pyjamas, suddenly stopped pacing and took in Matt's attire as the other boy was putting on socks.

"You look like you just escaped prison," he decided. "Take the shirt off."

"Yeah? Well..." Matt went silent for a second, thinking of a good insult, "...well, at least I don't look like a cootie-infested girl!"

"What did you just say?!" Mello was now making his way towards the bed, once again pointing his toothbrush at Matt. "Speaks the macho that wasn't even able to put honey in a bottle properly!"

Looking murderous, Mello straddled Matt's middle, holding the toothbrush menacingly.

"N-now Mello, l-let's be r-rational..." Matt tried, conscious that his voice was very much resembling a girl's at the moment.

"Rational? Rational?!" Mello's face was now mere inches away from Matt's and he looked ready to bite the poor boy's nose off. "You have no idea what Pretty Boy did to me! I'll –" he suddenly went silent, gazing into thin air, his mouth opened funnily. "Yes... yes, that'll work!" he grabbed Matt's shoulders and shook the boy while grinning evilly. "Come! We have to pay the freak a visit!"

Mello had started to get off of Matt, when the redhead interrupted him.

"Hey, Mello, can I ask you a question?"

"Hmm...?"

"Promise not to get mad?"

"Whatever. What is it?"

"Why does your breath smell like garlic?"

...

"Shut up."

And so Matt did.

**-**

**-**

**-**

Light placed the plate full of pancakes on the table, happily humming to himself.

Saying that he was pleased was a big understatement. He was fucking ecstatic. Who cared that he had barely got three hours of sleep, had to cook and will surely be late for school? He had gotten back at Mello and that had to be the best thing that happened to him all week.

He was so happy he didn't even mind the buddle of black hair that was currently sitting – if it could actually be called sitting – at the table and staring at the poor pancakes. Lawliet even had a bottle of maple syrup and one of strawberry syrup where his fork and knife should have been.

Oh, but who cared about Lawliet at the moment?! He'd gotten back at Mello and the world made sense again!

Near entered the kitchen first, dragging after him a black backpack, overstuffed with toys. It took Light a second to notice that the white haired boy was holding a tub of toothpaste in his other hand. He handed it to the brunet.

"Here. You'll need this for dinner," Near said, his expression deadly serious.

Light took the tub, mentally grinning as he remembered how hard it had been to squeeze all the toothpaste out of the tub and then stuff the garlic paste in its place. Oh, but it was so worth it because it taught Mello not to mess with him!

Near sat down at the table, just as both Matt and Mello entered the kitchen.

"Morning! Had a _good_ morning, _Mello_?" Light greeted, making his voice sound cheerful, with just a hint of malice.

"Fuck you." Mello muttered, not meeting the brunet's eyes. _Still grumpy, it seems_.

The last two kids sat at the table and helped themselves with breakfast while Light grabbed himself a plate and leaned on the counter, examining his charges critically. He had to be careful from then on, and sitting at the same table as Mello was a perfect occasion for the blonde to do something stupid again.

"Hey, L," Matt said, mouth overstuffed with pancakes and syrup, "why're you full of spots?"

Shit.

_Shit_.

Light had completely forgotten about not exposing the kids to Lawliet and his darn chickenpox.

Oh, well. Maybe that'll shut them up for good.

"I'm afraid I have chickenpox, Matt-kun." the raven said as he covered his entire plate in syrup before even touching his pancakes.

"Ew... I thought only young people got chickenpox."

"Is Matt-kun implying I am old?"

"Well, you're the oldest."

"That is... depressing." L's expression implied that he found the situation anything but, as he bit into the overly sweet food.

Soon, as breakfast was over – nobody bothered to clean after themselves; after all, why would they? – the kids scattered into the living room. Nobody would want to help Light with the dishes.

Lawliet was the last one to exit the kitchen – and he nearly made it, too – but Light caught him by the shoulder and dragged him back.

"You. You're helping me with the dishes." Light simply stated, leaving no room for objection.

He handed Lawliet a white cotton cloth and instructed him to dry off the dishes Light washed.

"Did you get any sleep at all?" Light tried to make conversation.

"Yes." Lawliet answered, mechanically drying the first plate he was handed.

"Really?" Light's voice betrayed his surprise.

"I fell asleep after Raito-kun and woke up before him."

_Well, that much was obvious_.

"Raito-kun, I don't think what you did to Mello was a good idea." Lawliet suddenly said, turning his black haunting eyes onto Light.

"Why's that?" Light didn't particularly care for the answer. He _knew_ he had done the right thing.

"Raito-kun will see."

Just as Light finished washing the last plate, his other three charges re-entered the kitchen, Mello leading.

"Hey, Light," the bratty blond started, "hurry up already, or we'll be late!" the lack of hostility on the boy's behalf and the usage of the brunet's first name tingled Light's suspicions immensely.

"Alright, alright, I'm ready. What's the rush?" Light grabbed the cotton cloth from Lawliet and dried his hands, completely ignoring the raven once again.

His question remained unanswered. That made him feel even more suspicious.

The fact that Matt stopped him from exiting the kitchen did not lessen his wariness one bit.

"Hey, the front door is too far away from the taxi station! Let's take the back one!" the redhead said excitedly. Despite the boy's usual obviousness, Light could not guess what was so wrong with the current situation.

"Well, that may be but our shoes and jackets are at the front door so –"

"I'll go get them!" Light didn't have time to stop Mello as the blond left the kitchen quickly and was back in a second with Light's brown jacket and his trainers. "Here!"

Still glaring doubtfully at the trio, Light put his shoes and jacket on – after subtly examining them for any suspicious substances - and just then noticed that his charges were already dressed and ready to go.

_Something's very wrong. They're cooking a prank somehow..._

Light was all eyes before every step he took, careful not to fall in another one of Mello's childish pranks. When he had already reached the taxi station, with still no sign of a present prank, he gave up and decided the lack of sleep was finally getting to him.

**-**

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**-**

"Here ya are, folks. That'll be –" the hairy cab driver started to turn to Light.

"Wait, wait! I'm going somewhere else! Only they are getting down here." the brunet growled at the over-eager man. He turned to the back seats, glaring at his charges. "I'm coming to pick you up at one. _Don't_ get into trouble. Got it?" He pulled a white piece paper containing his neat scribble and handed it to Mello. "Show this to Near's teacher, so she'll know she also has to put up with you two for the day."

Mello muttered something obscene as he grabbed the note, exited the taxi and nearly slammed the door into Near's face.

Light could still hear Mello's deliberately loud voice as the three entered "Wammy's school for the gifted".

"I can't believe the bastard is leaving us here, at a _fucking_ primary school, for a whole _fucking_ day! It's not like we'd _fucking_ blow up the _fucking_ house! Ooooh, I'll _fucking_ get him back!"

The teachers will surely have a surprise once they see the two visitors. And not of the pleasant kind.

Light rolled his eyes as he told the driver where to take him.

It was bad enough that he had to leave Lawliet home alone, he didn't even want to think of the possibility of leaving those two there too.

**-**

**-**

**-**

Light muttered to himself as he noticed Masahiro's red family car, still covered in trash and dust from yesterday's events. He'd have to take those brats to help him clean it soon.

As soon as they finished setting up the bed in the attic, of course.

Light had had much better school days, that was for sure. Sure enough, he'd been late for his first class and had gotten a scolding from the teacher for _'letting his intelligence go up to his head'_. He'd nearly fallen asleep in second period and the teacher humiliated him by waking him up and inquiring he answer a question he hadn't even heard. And, to top it all, he'd been once again chased by a group of rabid fan-girls after third period.

So it wasn't surprising that he'd decided to skip the rest of the day under the pretext that he had still not recovered from his previous cold. That way he could get a couple of hours of sleep before he had to go and pick up the kids.

_Perfect._

He unlocked the front door and opened it, welcoming the peaceful silence. He really needed some time to recharge his batteries.

But it seemed the Gods were once again against him.

He barely took a step into the house when he felt the ground literally run from under his feet. He still had not figured the reason why the front door mat had decided to run on him when he lost his balance and fell on his back, hitting the back of his head against the front door with a loud crack.

"Fuuuuu...uck..." he groaned as he pitifully touched the side of his head, which felt as if it might explode. He silently thanked all the deities he did not believe in for being alone when such a humiliating thing happened.

Possibly for the sole purpose of proving him wrong, Lawliet chose that moment to exit the living room, eyes examining the teen sprawled on the floor with silent mirth.

"Hello, Raito-kun," the raven's voice did not betray one ounce of his internal amusement.

"Shut up. It's not funny, you bastard!" Light growled as he glared draggers at Lawliet.

He got up slowly, gently rubbing his fatigued back. How could he have simply slipped like that? He was never clumsy or careless!

Then he unwillingly noticed the problem. Near his left leg, half covered by the rumpled mat, was a tiny green toy car, the kind that you bought in sets of a dozen or more. Curious, Light lifted the brown mat, only to find another twenty or so toy cars, each with its own bright coloured surface.

So the fall hadn't been as accidental as it had seemed.

Light picked one up – blazing fuchsia – and glared at it thoroughly. He felt steam coming out of his ears.

_Mello. It has to be Mello. He did this to get back at me, I'm sure of it!_

_But... then again, cars are Matt's speciality. But Matt hasn't got any reason to start this by himself. No, he must be working with Mello..._

_But, actually, if I were to consider all options... Near is the expert in toys and I swear I saw a couple of these in his room. _

_The three of them were probably in it together. Yes, that explains a lot..._

_No wonder they insisted so much that I exit through the back door... _

"I had warned Raito-kun to be careful, but Raito-kun did not listen..." Lawliet's voice woke Light up from his thoughts. The man had not taken a step to help him up or collect the toy cars.

"I thought I told you to – Wait..." something snapped in Light's mind, "You knew this would happen, didn't you?"

"I was only forty-three percent sure they would use the present prank but, yes, I was nearly ninety-four percent certain they would get back at Raito-kun somehow." Lawliet's disinterested attitude or bored monologue did not falter one second as he made his assumptions.

"You – you _knew_? You knew and you didn't do _anything_?!" Masahiro or no Masahiro, Light was close murdering the raven haired man.

"It is not my problem. Now, if Raito-kun would be so kind, this immature game must stop. Thus, I would appreciate it if Raito-kun did not get revenge this time."

But Light was not listening to the man. The wheels in his brain were already gyrating with lightning speed, searching for a brilliant plan to get back at the kids. He decided to ignore the irony the fact that he was trying to prank primary school pupils.

In mere seconds he'd made up his mind and, once again grinning evilly in a disturbing manner, he dropped the toy car and turned around, ready to exit the house again.

"Where is Raito-kun going?" Lawliet inquired, half surprised about the younger youth's attitude.

"At the pharmacy," Light threw over his shoulder as he opened the door.

"Ah, then would Raito-kun be so kind as to buy me a –"

But Light didn't hear the rest of Lawliet's request, as he'd slammed the door in the raven haired traitor's face.

He didn't have time for stupid Lawliet and his stupid cake.

He had a lesson to teach to those brats.

**-**

**-**

**-**

"Yahoo, we're finally hoooomeeee!" Matt yelled, loud enough for the entire neighbourhood to hear, as he got out of the taxi and threw himself across the front lawn.

"Idiot," Light heard Mello mutter but, nonetheless, the blond ran after his friend for a round of wrestling.

Light and Near were the last ones to exit the taxi after Light paid. He'd felt the need to get Near to sit on his lap in the passenger seat, as the boy had a simply huge bruise on his left cheek and Light thought it safe to assume Mello was at fault. He'd have to make sure those two don't cross paths too often, as Mello had an unhealthy adversity towards Near.

Light mentally rolled his eyes at the image of Mello and Matt tickling each other on the front lawn, as if they didn't have a care in the world.

_Careless. Careless fools, _his mind added and he barely fought a maniac grin off of his face.

Deciding for a round of fun for himself, Light started circling the house as to enter through the back door. After all, the kids din not know he had come home early and had already... er... found out about their prank.

Sure enough, the laughter stopped and he could hear Mello whispering something urgently in Matt's ear.

"Where are you going?" Near voiced the two other boys' thoughts.

"To the back door." Light turned, just in time to see Matt and Mello's shocked looks.

"But... but why?" Mello asked, still unable to close his agape mouth.

"Well, it's the closest to the kitchen, isn't it? And you three were so blatant on using that door this morning, what's the problem with it now?"

_Score._

Unable to further complain, Matt and Mello quickly got up and followed Near and Light, all the while exchanging terrified looks.

The back door gave in directly to the kitchen and so, the first thing they saw when they entered the house was a distressed Lawliet, sitting at the table in his now normal way and staring at a clean plate.

_Pathetic._

"Raito-kun!" he exclaimed when he saw the brunet, "Did Raito-kun –" Lawliet cut himself off as he saw Light's eyes widen threateningly as the teen placed a finger to his own lips. His body language made up for his lack of words: _Shut up, or else!_ "– did Raito-kun have a nice day?"

"Just perfect, Lawliet, thank you," Light answered, putting on an incredibly fake smile.

Lawliet just nodded and went back to staring a hole through his empty plate. He looked like a hit puppy. The size of his eyes and pout certainly did not help. And neither did the epidemic of red spots that covered every patch of visible skin.

Light sent the kids in the living room to do whatever they wanted while he cooked a quick lunch. He vaguely noticed the empty jars of sugar, honey and strawberry jam. There probably wasn't an ounce of sweet substance in the house anymore, thanks to Lawliet.

"Why did Raito-kun not buy me cake?" said raven haired man suddenly demanded.

"I'd just broken my back and cracked my head. The last thing I cared about was cake!" Light muttered quietly, careful to not be heard by the kids. He'd carefully placed the toy cars back under the front mat, so the situation would look as if nothing had happened.

"But Raito-kun wasn't ill enough not to go to the pharmacy and buy laxatives!"

"Shh, be quiet with that!" Light turned and pointed a wooden spoon at Lawliet threateningly.

"I am certainly not eating any lunch Raito-kun prepares."

"Don't worry, I'm saving them for dinner. I have other plans for now." Light grinned as he turned back to searching for a knife sharp enough to cut through a piece of stone hard beef.

"Related to that, I can see definite flaws in Raito-kun's plans. There is thirty-eight percent chance the paint shall not fall on its victim. And the gameboy –" Lawliet was silenced as Light once again turned and pointed accusingly at him, this time with a very dangerously looking cleaver.

"Don't you worry about that. I know what I'm doing. And if you don't give me away about anything today I'll buy you cake tomorrow. Deal?"

Lawliet went silent. Truthfully, he could not pass up such an offer.

After five minutes of utter silence, Light finished chopping the meat and was preparing to put it in the oven for roasting when Near entered the kitchen, holding an empty crystal glass.

"Water?" Light asked instantly, already used to the boy's antics.

The white haired boy nodded as he handed the glass to Light. He actually looked funny with the big bruise straining his cheek, the only black spot on a snowflake, Light decided amusedly.

"I need my clothes washed." Near said simply, as Light handed him the glass, now full with water.

"Oh?"

"Yes. My clothes are in the white basket in the basement. Please take care of that." With that, the albino boy turned and headed into the living room, gripping his glass with both hands.

Light rolled his eyes before letting a small smirk grace his lips at the predictability of the whole situation. Of course he's known this would happen. He'd noticed the white undergarments that practically overstuffed the basket in the basement. He'd also noticed the lack of clothing in the albino boy's dresser. It hadn't taken Light long to add two and two and to generate a simple and efficient plan. He'd only been waiting for Near's order to start.

Happily humming to himself, he placed the steak in the oven and turned to Lawliet, who was close to glaring a hole through the plate.

"Watch the stove." he simply ordered and left the kitchen.

Light descended the stairs to the basement and turned on the only light in the damp room. Despite being squeaky clean and containing much less junk than a basement should, Light couldn't bring himself to like basements. They were dark and damp and they even gave him a slight case of claustrophobia.

Not wasting another moment, he grabbed the white basket containing Near's undergarments and threw its contents into the waiting whashing machine. All ears for any sound out of the ordinary, he extracted a pair of Mello's bright red socks (clean, of course, he wouldn't even touch them otherwise) and placed them into the whashing machine, well hidden under the mass of white undershirts.

_Perfect_. _Now for the final touches. _

He climbed the stairs again and went in the living room, where Matt and Mello were watching TV and Near was playing with his toys on the ground, ignored.

"Hey, Mello," He addressed the blond hurricane, trying to look bored, "You've been here before, do you know how the washing machine works?"

"'Course I do," the kid announced proudly.

"Good. Go and turn it on, will you? I have to keep a watch on your lunch."

Light vaguely noticed Mello rolling his eyes as he closed the door. It didn't matter. Near had witnessed Light asking Mello to take care of the machine, thus Mello was the last one to be close to the thing.

_Perfect_. Everything was set.

All Light had to do now was wait and see his plans come to life.

**-**

**-**

**-**

Mello frowned to himself as he re-entered the living room. Pretty Boy had gone through the trouble to put all of the freak's undies in the washing machine but hadn't been able to push a simple button to start it.

Maybe he wasn't as smart as he wanted to seem. That thought warmed Mello's heart.

The blond jumped on the couch, next to Matt, and hugged a pillow to his chest. His redhead companion was barely keeping his eyes open, sustaining his head with the back of his hand, as his other hand held the remote control and jumped from one channel to the other.

"Make up your mind already," Mello muttered after five minutes of seeing bits and pieces of different programs.

"Mhmmm..." the redhead didn't seem to even acknowledge him.

"Oi! Earth to Matt?" Mello tried again, before giving up reason and elbowing his friend in the ribs.

"Ow... What the hell do you want?" Matt turned to glare at his tormentor, eyebrows furrowed and rubbing his poor, abused ribs.

"This!" Before the redhead could stop him, Mello grabbed the remote control and scooted to the far end of the couch, away from Matt.

"Hey, give that back!"

Unable to turn down a challenge, Matt crawled after Mello to his end of the couch, grabbed one end of the remote control and started pulling. After a few seconds of trying to regain control, Mello's fingers finally slipped from the plastic device and Matt crawled back to his end of the couch, grinning mischievously.

Not wanting to be the loser, Mello angrily dragged himself back to Matt, grabbed his end of the remote control and, in the fever of the wrestle, unconsciously climbed over the redhead, straddling his middle area.

Neither of them noticed their compromising for a minute until, suddenly, their gazes met and they both simultaneously realised that their noses nearly touched.

After a few seconds of shocked silence and awkward stares, Matt pulled the remote control out of Mello's now weak grip and shut down the television.

Mello practically felt Matt's tense urgency to get up, so he quickly raised himself from the redhead, falling on his backside in the process, still staring numbly at his friend.

"Lunch's probably ready." Matt simply said as he got up, not meeting Mello's gaze.

Mello nodded awkwardly, for the first time at a loss of words. He followed Matt out of the room and into the kitchen, feeling as if the pregnant silence was nearly asphyxiating him.

Neither of the boys noticed the half curious, half amused gaze of the third occupant of the room.

**-**

**-**

**-**

After finishing a decent amount of his steak, Near was the first to sit up from his table. He did not see any reason to further waste time listening to either meaningless conversation or Mello's whining about this or that.

His clothes were probably done whashing anyway, so he had to go and pick them up. Good enough reason to get away from that mass of annoying people.

Truthfully, he found each of them far from being stupid. It was hard enough having to deal every day with witless children that saw toys as toys and nothing more. That laughed stupidly when something or somebody got hurt. That found making fun of him better than ignoring him.

He secretly envied Lawliet for being able to ignore the stupidity of humanity so easily.

But the past couple of days have been interesting, at the very least. Mello's intuitivism and knowledge of the human psyche greatly surpassed his own, but the blond's emotions got in the way of most of his plans.

Matt was a genius when it came to anything electronic; the boy could probably blow up a building, using nothing but a kitchen clock and his remote controlled car. But his naivety and lack of independence got in his way too much for his true potential to be shown.

And Light was... Near couldn't find a veritable flaw about his babysitter except, perhaps, for his impulsiveness when a plan backfired on him. That was the only thing that had made him vulnerable so far to Mello's pranks.

Yes. The current inhabitants of his home were a very interesting lot. Near found it very entertaining to study them and break down their personalities into useful traits and destructive traits.

Near climbed on a stool near the whashing machine, opened the lid and started untangling his clothing.

Discovering that his underwear and undershirts were a light shade of pink was one of the few things that had ever surprised Rue Nate-Near.

Eyes, slightly widened, Near threw the half-damp undershirt he was holding on the stone floor, which was followed by the rest of his laundry, piece by piece. Just as he had nearly covered the entire floor in pink clothing, he discovered a red sock near the bottom on the pile. Soon he discovered a second sock to match the first, this one bearing the letter _M_ inscripted in it.

There was only one person vain enough to sew his initial on his _socks_.

_Mello_.

Mello had the motive, the means _and_ he was the last one to enter the basement. _Yes, it was Mello_.

But the blond made even less sense than usually, as Near had helped him with the pranking of Light Yagami. With Mello's logic, he probably thought Near was directly responsible for the backfire of the prank and took revenge.

Yes, Near would have to keep an eye on the blond, for nobody knew when Mello might strike again.

**-**

**-**

**-**

Matt let out a prolonged battle cry as he jumped on the living room couch, earning a pitiful screech from said couch.

He'd just finished eating and was feeling more than up for a couple of hours full of gaming. He grabbed the remote control from under the couch – he'd hidden it from Mello; they were friends, of course, but nobody came in between Matt and his love for television – and turned on the TV.

He repeatedly changed channels for a few seconds, searching for something interesting. Upon finding nothing of the sort, he left it on the music channel and grabbed his gameboy from the end table.

He'd barely started a game, when the small gadget emitted a loud, strange screech and shut down. A few sparkles flew from its junctures, instantly followed by thick smoke.

_What the...?_

Matt's gadgets never broke up on their own. He made sure to break them himself before they had the chance. Thus, it was a very curious situation that his gameboy simply decided to explode.

The redhead opened the gameboy's carcass with careful fingers, ready to check the batteries, wires or _something_. He did not get the chance to, as a tiny piece of Lego, half melted by the short circuit, fell out of the gadget and into Matt's lap.

Matt simply stared at the poor piece of plastic for a few seconds, not able to comprehend its meaning. He knew it was one of Near's but could not figure out how it could have gotten in his gameboy.

_Of course__, _his mind said, _Mello's been here on other occasions. I'm the newbie in this house and it's probably some sort of sick ritual of initiation of his. Maybe Mello's in it too..._

He uncontrollably sundered at the thought of his new best friend being so cruel to him.

There was only one way of being sure.

_I have to keep my distance from both of them for now and possibly get back at them._

**-**

**-**

**-**

Mello's mind constantly plotted as he ascended the stairs to his temporary room.

He had not, for one second, counted on the fact that Pretty Boy would take the back door and not fall in the trap. Mello'd felt obligated to remove the toy cars after lunch to make sure that L himself would not unknowingly fall in it.

It annoyed Mello deeply to have one of his plans backfire on him. He'd have to come with a better one soon, or he'd lose his authority.

Not sensing anything astray, Mello slammed the dormitory's door open –

... and was hit by a bucketful of black substance on the crown of his head.

Thick, black paint now poured freely down his shoulders, making his T-shirt stick to his skin in the most disgusting manner. He unwillingly shuddered as the substance travelled from his now dark hair onto his cheek, partly covering his left eye.

His only open eye noticed the Chinese take-out box that had contained the paint fall onto the wooden floor. He was lucky that the box wasn't metal, or even plastic, or he'd be out cold.

His teeth greeted as he put two and two together.

_Why would Matt want to cover me in his stupid black paint? I thought we were in this together!_

The thought of Matt betraying him was surprisingly painful for the blond.

_Is he taking revenge for the remote controlled incident? It wasn't even my fault and what there is he so upset about, anyway?!_

He sighed. Despite the boy's obviousness, Mello had come to appreciate Matt's company very much over the past day.

_Not anymore. I'll show that stuck up idiot not to mess with me!_

But, before he did that...

"AAAAAAAAAAAH!"

...making a scene was _so_ called for.

**-**

**- **

**-**

L stopped typing at his laptop to stare at the opposite wall, hand unconsciously scratching his thigh. If he squirmed long enough, he could almost see the strawberry shortcake floating into thin air, just waiting for him to grab it.

The raven shook his head, trying to get rind of the thought. It had barely been five hours and he was already becoming delusional due to the lack of sweets.

Raito-kun had told him to go to sleep for a while, until dinner was ready. But L was not able to do so, knowing that when he woke up the house would still completely lack any sugary substance, thus making the sleeping useless.

L closed his eyes and leaned his head back, trying to remember the Latin for a word. He was so concentrated the he did not hear steps in the room behind him until the door opened and he lost his balance, toppling over near one Yagami Light's feet.

"You're still here? I thought I told you to go to sleep," the teen prodigy muttered, not looking at all impressed with L's antics.

"Has Raito-kun finally decided to buy me cake?" L said simply said, staring blankly into Raito-kun's eyes, despite his uncomfortable position of half-lying on the floor.

"No, I'm just going to the bathroom. You're getting really annoying! Get up and go to your room already, I said I wasn't buying you cake today!"

To the brunet's disappointment, L got back into his crouched position and scooted a few feet to the right, effectively getting out of the way. He grabbed his laptop and once again started typing, not throwing Raito-kun another glance.

He tried to convince himself that Raito-kun's words had not hurt him at all and that it was all about the cake, or lack there of...

**-**

**-**

**-**

Light hummed happily to himself.

Despite the rocky start, the day was proving to be one of the best he'd had in months. He'd gotten back at the kids individually – Mello's screaming had to be the most beautifully sadistic sound Light knew – so the three had been much too wary of each other to even argue with Light when the brunet had gathered them to clean the attic, move Matt and Mello's things from the Rue couple's dormitory and then wash Masahiro's car. Even Lawliet had helped – and the raven was _actually_ making progress in abstaining from scratching.

And the best part was that Light was currently cooking (literally) the last prank. The three were so busy trying to mentally strangle each other that they hadn't cast a second glance in Light's direction all evening.

_This is going to be too easy. Just like stealing candy from a kid..._

Speaking of stealing candy from a kid... Due to his lack of sugar, Lawliet had spent the entire evening in Light's presence, sulking. The raven had even followed Light when the brunet had gone in his room to do his homework for the following day. Despite Light's insistence that the other youth go to his own room, Lawliet was still at Light's door, crouched on the floor and typing away at his laptop, when the brunet had exited the room to go to the bathroom.

Light was certain that the weird black haired man was trying to make him feel pity so that he'd buy him cake.

_Greedy bastard..._

Light absentmindedly turned, only to come face to face with the aforementioned raven. Lawliet was staring blankly into Light's eyes as his forefinger and thumb were holding the small pack of laxatives Light had bought earlier, handling it to Light.

"What? Now you're helping me?" Light smirked, deciding to poke a little fun at his oldest charge, "Would you really sell your relatives for a piece of cake?"

"Desperate times call for desperate measures, Raito-kun," Lawliet simply replied, his enormous eyes following Light's every movement as the brunet ground the pills and dissipated the dust in the bowl of soy sauce. Anyone eating a healthy amount of that sauce would be having a very alarming problem in just a few hours.

"Remind me to never get on your bad side," Light muttered, still smirking to himself.

They spent a few minutes in silence as Light prepared the rice and fried the chicken breast. Lawliet did not move from his place, barely a foot away from Light.

"They are not my relatives," the raven finally said, still not showing any emotion in his abysmal eyes.

Light turned from his work and quirked a finely sculptured eyebrow, willing the other youth to continue.

"None of them are my blood relatives," Lawliet repeated. When Light nodded, still gazing at him expectantly, he continued "Near-kun and me hand not known each other until Reika-san and Masahiro-san had adopted us, thus we are not related to Mello-kun and his side of the family. And Matt-kun's mother is Masahiro-san's step-sister. She was adopted, too. That means –"

"– that means neither of you are related, right?" Light finished for him. It was such an ironic situation it wasn't even funny.

"That is correct, Raito-kun."

Light remained silent. Funny, how a bunch of completely unrelated people could be so united when it came to getting something accomplished.

Suddenly the image of Near, Matt and Mello uniting their forces to get revenge on Light for what he was about to do appeared before the brunet's eyes.

It didn't seem funny anymore...

**-**

**-**

**-**

Mello's eyes lazily cracked open and the boy stretched like a cat, trying desperately to stiffen a yawn as to not wake Matt up.

Why had he woken up again?

He suddenly remembered as his stomach grumbled rather pathetically, clearly not agreeing with something the boy had eaten.

Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes lazily, the blond untangled himself from the covers and got out of bed. The current bed he was sharing with Matt was nearly just as big as the one in the Rue's room, but far less comfortable.

And Mello had yet to curse Pretty Boy for it, too.

He swiftly noticed the lack of Matt in bed. A quick groping of the sheets on the redhead's side told Mello the other boy had not been gone for long. He vaguely wondered where the obvious redhead could have gone.

Dismissing the thought, he opened the trap door in the wooden ground and quickly descended the ladder, landing swiftly in the middle of the first floor hall. Despite his previous excitement of having the whole attic just to Matt and himself, Mello was getting quite tired of always ascending and descending that stupid ladder.

His stomach grumbled again, this time louder and more painful, and he felt the sudden need to urgently use the bathroom.

Not wasting another moment, Mello crossed the way to the end of the hall, his bare feet paddling softly on the clean, shiny wood, and slammed the bathroom door open...

... or he would have if it wasn't tightly locked.

_Who the hell could need to use the bathroom at a time like this?!_

"Who's there?" Matt's voice asked from the other side of the door.

"It's me. Get out of there, will you?"

"I can't! I'm kind of... in the middle of something..."

"I'm serious, Matt, it's an emergency!" Mello felt desperation starting to build in his gut as his stomach gave another painful grumble. Couldn't Matt have found a better time to gel his hair or whatever?

"I damn well know what's an emergency and it's on this part of the door!" Matt's voice was starting to crack too.

"Well, fuck you!" Mello's voice rose as he kicked the door loudly and turned, heading for the ground floor bathroom.

Just as he arrived at the staircase, Near's mop of white hair came into view as the boy ascended the stairs towards Mello.

"If you're heading for the ground bathroom, it's locked." Near simply muttered as he passed Mello.

"And Pretty Boy's room?" Mello instinctively asked as a thought lit upon him.

"Also locked. He didn't answer when I knocked."

"No way..." the words escaped Mello's lips as realization hit him.

"Don't tell me you two have... _that_ problem, too" Matt's voice, slightly muffled, was heard from the direction of the nearby bathroom.

"He tricked us..." Mello was still in shock, eyes widened comically and staring at the nearby wall. "He tricked us, _N_!"

"Yes, he most probably did." Near agreed, not looking in the least bothered. "It was expected, as you were too quiet to be yourself after the laundry prank."

"Laundry prank?" Mello stared at Near for a few seconds, until realization fell upon him again, just as sudden as the first time. "That means... it wasn't Matt who pulled the black paint prank..."

"Why the fuck would I waste that much of black paint, just to make you brunet?" Matt's incredulous voice yelled, partly forgotten. "And I guess that means Near had nothing to do with my game boy, did you?"

"No."

"He tricked us! He tricked us all!" Mello was near hysterics at the moment. "He knew about our prank and probably came home earlier and fell in it so now he's taking revenge and–"

"Mello, you're making a scene..." Matt muttered as he flushed the toilet.

"Making a scene?! You'd be making a scene too if your stomach was about to explode!"

"I am currently in the same situation, M–" Near started, but was interrupted by the obnoxious blond.

"This isn't working. No, we'll have to give him a _real_ lesson. A long, painful, humiliation lesson. Yes. Yes, that we will..." Mello was completely out of it and his stomach certainly didn't help the situation much. "N, Matt," the blond's eyes glinted dangerously with just a hint of madness, "we're going to play a game..."

"Yeah, yeah, I got it, we're going to take over the world," Matt muttered and Mello guessed the redhead was probably rolling his eyes, "but can you please get me another roll of toilet paper?"

As Mello rolled his eyes and turned to fetch the object, the redhead's voice stopped him again:

"... and a vent would be nice too! I'm kind of asphyxiating in here..."

**-**

**-**

**-**

**A/N: **And that's it for now :) I hope those that pitied Light are finally content now XD Don't worry, he won't have the upper hand for long XD

I won't be making anymore promises about when I'll update, as it seems something always interferes. But I hope I won't ever have to leave you wait for more than two weeks :)

**Review responses:**

**blueberry-90:** Here is the update :) Thank you so much for reviewing and I hope you're glad now that Light took revenge. Don't worry, you have yet to see the real devilishness the Wammy kids are capable of XD

**Black-Dranzer-1119:** Let's just say that both sides are the worst and call it a tie XD I hope you enjoy Light's supremacy while you can :)

**deathnoteno1fan-codegeasslover: **Amen to the messing with hair part. I hate that too. Maybe that's why I love doing it to Light XD Thank you for your review and I hope you further enjoy the story :)

**NX-Loveless-XN: **Hehe, I love Matt too. Or, at least I love the personality I created for Matt, as he kinds lacks one in the manga and anime DX

**uncrawl:** Thanks for the reassurance and the info! I'm really wary about writing Light as the protagonist of a humor fic XD I hope you enjoy this chapie too :)

**StandardSpork:** Thanks for reviewing :) I will start including conversations where Light isn't trying to mutilate L sometime soon... at least I hope so, it seems like it's dragging on forever XD If you like your Light in pain, than you will probably love the next chapter so stay tuned for it :) And no problems with the suggestions, I'm actually considering the closet one XD

**Dragonist:** Woah, easy with the praise, it'll go up to my head XD Really, thank you so much for it, it made my day :) (actually your review was the one that made me wake up and think 'Holy shit! It's been a week and I haven't even started the new chapter!' XD)

**Nekotsubasa:** I'm really sorry I have to up the rating, even through it makes you uncomfortable. I'm fairly sure there won't be any sexual situations but the characters kind of like to swear a lot XD I hope you'll further enjoy the fic, despite the rating.

**Kuro_Shinzo:** Thank you so much for your review and compliments. Characterization is what I'm most worried about in this fic so it feels awesome to know they're still not completely OOC XD


	5. Devil Spawns

**A/N:** Eeeh, sorry? *is attacked by sharp draggers from angry readers*

I'm so sorry it took so long everyone! Real life gets in the way too much… But I do have good news! The plot plan for this fic is finished so I now know exactly what I'm doing (although it might not seem so at times…)! I'm pretty sure there will be a total of ten chapters, unless some unexpected idea arises, and around 90-100 k words. That's a lot o.0

Also, this chapter's longer to make up for the wait! *throws confetti*

Thank you everyone for reviewing! You guys are awesome! I haven't had time yet to answer the reviews, but I promise I'll do so immediately!

Long story short, I hope you enjoy the chapter and I promise not to take so long with updating again ^^U

**!!! - I'm guessing most of you have no idea what that blasted house looks like any more, due to my poor descriptions and some stupid confusions I made which, of course, I plan to eventually correct (where I come from, ground floor and first floor are two different things o.O) So, for those interested, I've created a sketch of the floor plan and posted the links to the pics on my profile. So please check those, if you have no idea which is which. **

**-**

**-**

**-**

**Forever and a Week**

**Chapter 5**

**Devil Spawns**

**-**

**-**

**-**

_This is my town  
Watch your step if you come around  
I don't think I know you  
Well maybe its time to show you_

_This is my home  
I will be standing here alone.  
If you think you're ready to see hell  
Come on in and ring the bell._

_**Cartoon Boyfriend – "My town"  
– Home Alone 3 Soundtrack**_

**-**

**-**

**-**

Early mornings were the best time of the day for Light Yagami. Especially the warm, orange glow of sunrays against his skin as they make their way to the half closed blinds. He loved that feeling. It was probably the only thing he was positive he truly loved. In those few moments of blissful silence and relaxation between sleep and awakening nothing mattered. Not school, not his stupid friends, not the kids, not even stupid Lawliet.

And any moment that didn't include Lawliet in it was a positively blissful moment.

Sighing to himself as he realised he had to wake up soon, Light turned on his back and opened his eyes gently to a new day...

... only to come face to face with Lawliet's hideously big eyes.

"Wha...?!" he exclaimed dazedly as he instinctively tried to get up. Unfortunately, Lawliet was in the way, so their foreheads collided with a loud crack. "Oww... what the hell're you doing here?!"

"Good morning, Raito-kun," Lawliet answered simply, not showing any reaction to the painful colliding of their heads. He seemed to refuse to say anything else.

Light lay back down on the bed, for the moment forgetting to shoo Lawliet out of his personal bubble.

Had he forgotten to lock the door?

No, that was impossible. Those noisy little devils would have made him toast if they found the door unlocked –

...wait, was he still intact?!

Brutally pushing Lawliet out of the way, he got out of bed, opened the window and thoroughly examined himself in its reflection.

_Nope, no__ green skin. Hair looks alright too. Then how did Lawliet get in?_

He turned and checked the door, fully expecting it to be unlocked, possibly with remains of explosive material in its lock – he wouldn't put it past any of the inhabitants of the house. Possibly just to mock him, the door turned to be locked tight. Light let go of the handle and gazed at the wooden surface in front of him for a few moments, thinking over every possibility.

The simple idea that Light had locked himself in the room the previous night without noticing that Lawliet was already there was simply preposterous. What if the raven hid in the wardrobe? No, that would be stupid, even for him, not to mention that he would have absolutely no reason to.

Then how...?

"Is Raito-kun alright?" he heard the neutral and slightly mechanic voice of his companion behind himself.

"How did you get in here?" Light simply asked, feeling his blood starting to boil.

"Through the – "

"Don't even finish that sentence! Unless you're some creepy ghost that passes through locked doors, you've got some explaining to do." he didn't even bother to notice the utter childishness of his statement. Logic could wait until he wasn't dealing with a sweets-addicted insomniac who got a kick out of watching him sleep.

"I have a spare key to all the locks in the house," Lawliet simply stated, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

To him, it probably was.

_Figures._

"And why are you here?" Light didn't let his surprise show in his stern tone. God knew what kind of kinky pervert the guy actually was, with a face like that.

"Mello-kun is not very happy."

"And?"

"And I felt uncomfortable being so close to their only available bathroom."

Light was ready to call it bullshit when he remembered the extent of his pranks from the previous day. Ah, that explained a lot. He unwillingly let a wave of sympathy wash over his face before resuming his interrogation.

"Still, why my room?"

"The living room does not have a lock and spending a night in the ground floor bathroom would not have been pleasant."

Raito rolled his eyes, despite the logic of the statement. He'd had enough Lawliet for one morning. And one night, it seemed, he added glumly to himself.

"Okay, okay, I got it. But it's morning now so get out. I need to change."

Lawliet simply continued to stare at Light, as if he didn't understand the implications of the brunet's simple statement. Light waited patiently for a few seconds, expecting Lawliet to draw his set of keys, unlock the door and get out any second. When the raven failed to do so even after nearly a minute Light decided to take action.

"_What?!_"

"I'm afraid Raito-kun has yet to understand the full consequences of what he is forcing me to do."

"Oh, come on, what can they do? I've beaten them once already." he answered, exasperated.

When Lawliet still refused to move from his position near Light's bed, the brunet grabbed his own key from the nightstand and unlocked the door. He took a peek outside to make sure the coast was actually clear. Not that he was scared by Lawliet's suspicions. No, that was just ridiculous. But it never hurt to make sure.

He then paced to Lawliet, grabbed his wrist and proceeded to drag the other youth to the door, sending him out in the open with one last brutal push.

"They're just kids!" Light muttered, more to convince himself than Lawliet. "Now go and take it like a man!"

With that he slammed the door in Lawliet's chicken-pox infested nose and proceeded to get himself ready for the day.

**-**

**-**

**-**

"Matt, I said get out of there already! It's my turn!" Mello growled dangerously at the locked door.

"Get your own bathroom! This one's mine!" Matt's muffled voice could be heard through the other side of the ground floor bathroom.

Although Light had finally unlocked that one too, they were still one bathroom short. Matt had taken the first floor one as a hostage and, by the looks of it, Near had claimed the second floor one.

No matter how you looked at it, one of them had to wait, not even counting Lawliet and Light himself.

_And it just had to be Mello, right? _Light thought as he shuddered at the barbaric thrusts in the door.

As much as he didn't like to admit it, the little devils _were_ quite unsettling that morning. Especially with their sleep-deprived eyes, unpleasant, growling faces and short temper.

Near, who had sat opposite him, had glared at Light for the entirety of breakfast.

Matt's blasted remote controlled car had _accidentally _ran over Light's feet when he was serving breakfast, nearly making the teen prodigy fall.

And Mello... adding to calling Light names, making inappropriate comments and showing rude signs behind the brunet's back for the entirety of the morning, Mello'd also thrown and ear-shattering tantrum when Light had merely suggested sending them to school that day.

_It's not like it's my fault that the laxatives' effect hasn't worn off even by now…_

Light finished washing the dishes and sat down at the table next to Lawliet, whom had brought his laptop and was currently working on his project once again.

"What do you suggest we do?" Light decided to ask, thinking a second opinion – even if said opinion belonged to Lawliet – couldn't hurt.

"About what, Raito-kun?" the man simply asked, not taking his eyes off the computer.

"About leaving them alone here all morning, of course. Sure, you'll be here, but – "

"But I'm afraid I will not be of much help." Lawliet completed his sentence, still engrossed in his work.

"Yeah, that." Light sighed and tried to take a peed at the screen. Upon noticing the same diagram, now nearly complete, he lost interest.

"Reika-san is on very good terms with the next door neighbour. I could ask him to come here for a few hours."

"You don't mean the Roger guy, do you?" Light asked incredulously. Sure, that Roger could probably keep the kids in a leash for a few hours and not be brutally murdered, but what Light feared more was the state he'd find the house in.

"No, thankfully. I'm talking about Watari-san."

Light rolled his eyes at the raven's expectancy to recognize this Watari just by name.

"Whatever. If he's free, tell him to come here for a few hours. I'll pay."

Lawliet hit the Enter key with an overdramatic gesture and closed the laptop's lid, finally looking at Light.

_About time, jackass._

"That won't be necessary, Raito-kun. Watari-san will be happy to watch them for free." If Light had studied his raven haired companion's face meticulously, he could have deciphered a small, ironic smile. Sure, Light didn't bother paying Lawliet any more attention than absolutely necessary, but the irony wasn't completely lost.

"I'm sure he will," Light smirked to himself as he got up from the table and started heading for his room. "Give him a call already, will you? I have to leave."

Light entered his room and grabbed his backpack. He didn't waste a beat in once again examining his reflection in the opened window, before shutting it and closing the blinds. He had to make sure the kids had absolutely no way of entering his room. That would be an utter catastrophe.

He re-entered the hall just as Lawliet was ending a call. The brunet noticed with more that a bit of jealousy Lawliet's modern cell phone but didn't let his emotions show on his face.

_M__eh, his parents spoil him way too much… _

"Watari-san has agreed to help us," Lawliet said. He seemed to sense Light's presence without even turning. "He said he shall drop by in half of hour."

"Well, I don't have half of hour, so I'll let you deal with him."

Light walked past Lawliet, towards the front door. Unfortunately (of fortunately?) he nearly slammed the door in the raven's face.

"What now? I'm running late, Lawliet," he gritted through his teeth as Lawliet continued to stare blankly at him. _What's this man __**thinking**__?_

"Wouldn't Raito-kun like a ride so he will not be late?"

Light sighed to himself, wondering how Lawliet could create complicated charts in a blink of the eye and yet not knowing the basic rules of life.

"You've got chicken pox."

"Ah, but Raito-kun has already had chicken pox and I will not be exiting the car, thus there will be no danger."

_Only he could come up with such logic_.

"You also have to watch the kids until this Watari comes. If something happens, I will be held responsible," Light tried to argue, glancing at his watch. He was surely going to be late for first period now.

"Near-kun, Mello-kun and Matt-kun will be able to take care of themselves for a half of hour, Raito-kun."

_It's the house I fear more about…_

"And… and don't you forget the last time I was in the same car as you I nearly got killed!" Light was glad he had finally found a serious comeback. A part of him mind was wondering why he was refusing a free ride, especially since he was running late, but he quickly dismissed it. This was Lawliet they were talking about.

"It was just a trash can, Raito-kun."

_And Sahara's just a cat's litter box._

"You're afraid to be alone with them aren't you?" Light finally pushed, eager to end the conversation at this point. It was a long shot, but maybe it would silence him.

And surprisingly it did.

"You are, aren't you?" Light could barely suppress his laughter. How could a full grown man be afraid of a pack of kids?!

"I would not say 'afraid', Raito-kun, but I would rather take the chance of hitting another trash can." The raven simply answered as he exited the house along with Light.

Light grinned sickeningly to himself some more at the mere idea as he entered the passenger seat of the red family car. He didn't even consider he might be sharing Lawliet's phobia by the end of the day.

**-**

**-**

**-**

"Wow, what a nice car!"

"Is that Yagami-kun?"

"Who's the guy next to him?"

"Are those zits? He's full of them!"

"What's Light-kun doing next to a guy like that?!"

Light could even hear the comments even before the motor stopped. He had omitted one big argument in his quarrel with Lawliet: how much of a blow would his reputation take from riding in a car with a chicken-pox infested panda bear.

"When should I come to pick Raito-kun up?" Lawliet asked as Light opened the portiere on his side. Light deeply wished nobody had heard the inquire.

"I'll walk."

Without another word, he shut the door in Lawliet's face and made his way to the school entrance, all the while trying to ignore the curious eyes and gossip in his direction.

_Stupid Lawliet…_

**-**

**-**

**-**

"So, would you youngsters like a snack?" the old man asked as he eyed each child with his kind, dark eyes.

Near knew him as the next door neighbour and as the man who occasionally visited them and brought L sweets. He didn't have any particular opinion of Watari, as they'd had only very few conversations, with the old man doing most of the talking.

"No," Mello muttered as he crossed his arm childishly and refused to look in the man's eyes. Near partly agreed with Mello on that. Watari's presence did complicate things quite a bit.

Mello, as if he suddenly couldn't bear their new babysitter any longer, growled lowly, grabbed one of Near's and Matt's forearms in each hand and dragged them in the living room. He then proceeded to shut the door loudly.

Near could only guess that Watari smiled to himself and headed to the kitchen, not noticing anything suspicious in the situation.

"This is bad. This is _so_ bad," Matt muttered as soon as the door was closed.

"I agree," Near gave his own opinion, but decided not to present any solutions, merely just to let Mello knock himself out.

"I know, I know, but we can't let him drag us down! We planned on using the closet plan on L, but we must rid of this Watari guy first!" Mello commanded, still clutching the other boys' forearms.

"M, I fear that Watari's age doesn't permit him to –" Near started, but Mello made sure to interrupt him.

"We don't have time for that. Come, L will be back soon too!"

Near found it remotely amusing that L, whom used to be Mello's hero, was now treated by the blond as any lowlife criminal.

Near and Matt were dragged once again by Mello, out of the living room and into the kitchen, where Watari was resting on a chair.

"Err, sir…" Matt started.

"Please call me Watari," the kind old man smiled.

"Watari-san," Mello continued, much more confident than Matt was, "we would like some snacks now, please." It was surprising how convincing Mello could be when it was needed.

"Ah, of course. How about peanut butter and jelly?"

"Yes, please!" Matt agreed, not wasting a beat. He had probably forgotten already about the mission at the mention of food, the obvious idiot.

Watari turned and started searching through the cupboards for the needed ingredients. He immediately found a jar of strawberry jelly that L had missed. Unfortunately for him, the peanut butter was harder to find.

After a waiting for an appropriate time – the three of them, lined in front of Watari, hands behind their backs and smiling as fake as possible, probably looked very suspicious; fortunately, Watari didn't seem to mind – Mello peeped in with the well rehearsed comment.

"The peanut butter is in the storage room, Watari-san."

Watari closed the cupboard and pointed at the simple, white door of the storage room all the while smiling at them.

"Here?"

"Yes," Near nodded with his ever-present blank expression.

"Okay, let's see then," the man started reading the labels from the nearest shelf on the left.

"It's right in the back, sir," Matt said as he stepped closer, right behind Watari, and pointed at a random jar in the back corner of the storage room. "Let me get it, sir –"

"No, no, there's no need. I've got it." Watari got farther from the door – as far as the minimal space in the store room allowed him to – as he squirted his eyes to read the label on the jar Matt mentioned. Just as he was about to mention that it didn't contain peanut butter –

"NOW!" Matt yelled as Mello pushed the door closed and Near locked it.

"K-kids?" the poor man's terrified voice could be heard, partly muffled by the wooden door. "Now, don't do this." He tried to open the door, only to find it locked. "Children, don't lock me here! Why are you doing this? Come on, let me out and I will make you your snacks! Kids…?"

But the three were not listening to him. They high fived and congratulated each other for a job well done.

"Let's get started now!" Matt exclaimed and tried to exit the kitchen, only to be brutally stopped by Mello pulling his ear.

"Wait a minute, we still have to take care of L!" his expression suddenly turned into a maniacal grin. "And I have just the idea!"

"Wh-what?" Matt asked, his voice trembling.

Mello pushed him roughly in the direction of the table, where L's laptop still lay. "Destroy it."

"_What?!_ You want me to destroy L's computer?! Are you nuts?" Matt exclaimed incredulously as he turned around to glare at Mello.

"Do you have a better idea, Einstein?"

"Well, we could – "

But he didn't have time to finish his idea when the sound of a car stopping in the near distance interrupted him.

"Shit, he's back! Do it already!" Mello's voice was on the verge of hysteria by now. That boy certainly put too much passion in his ideas, good or bad.

Matt swallowed the lump in his throat and gazed longingly at the computer. The mere thought of consciously hurting a machine stung him.

With a pained sigh, the boy made his way to the gadget to complete his mission.

**-**

**-**

**-**

L entered the house carefully, eyes scanning any suspicious corner. He had to be very careful for the next few hours, as to not fall in some sort of awful trap. As amusing as it was to watch Raito-kun get hurt, L did not feel up for feeling it on his own skin.

The complete and utter silence in the house could only mean one of three things: 1. Watari-san had yet to arrive and the kids were plotting something horrible, 2. Watari-san had arrived, the kids had already taken care of him and were plotting something horrible, or 3. Watari-san had arrived and the kids were currently torturing him, before plotting something horrible.

L decided that the lack of screams implied that the third option was not valid. Also, upon checking the winter clothing closet near the front door and finding it lacking human bodies, the second option also seemed invalid. That only left the first one. And L was not going to check on the kids on his own to see if they were indeed plotting something.

Deciding to at least finish his work while waiting for something to happen, he entered the kitchen, sat at the table in his favourite position, and turned on the laptop. Or tried to, as the blasted thing refused to compile…

L pushed the _Power_ button a few more times, before deeming it useless. It was probably the power source. Again. Power sources never seemed to last him more that a couple of months with the ungodly number of hours he spent at the computer daily.

More than a little glad to be out of the house so soon, L grabbed the laptop, sat up from the table and exited the kitchen. He'd have to take it to reparations as soon as possible if he wanted to finish the project.

As he shut the front door after himself, L omitted to notice the small shadows peeking from the top of the stairs high-five at their success.

**-**

**-**

**-**

"Hey, N, you ready?"

At the boy's approval Mello proceeded to tie the end of a long piece of thin, dark-coloured string at the base of the staircase railing. This first prank had been N's idea, as the boy knew the house best and mentioned the loose lock of the closet door directly opposite the staircase. In mere minutes he had come up with an elaborate plan just perfect for… err, _squishing_ Pretty Boy.

Too perfect.

That's what Mello hated most about the white-haired, antisocial brat. He never worked hard for anything, yet he always got the best ideas. Not to mention _he_ got to be L's brother.

_Just not fair…_

After he finished tying up the string, Mello sat up from his crouched position, carefully stepped over the newly created invisible barrier and started climbing the stairs, all the while examining the thin line as it twisted along the wall, up to the closet door's handle.

_Perfect. Now all we need is a dead weight. Maybe Matt should come up with – wait, where __**is**__ Matt anyway? I haven't seen him for – _

He didn't manage to finish his train of thought however, as the front door slammed open. Unfortunately, the first creature that entered the house was not Matt, but a big, shaggy, street dog, immediately followed by a dirty redhead, dragging himself on the floor on all fours and grinning from ear to ear.

"Hey, guys, look what I found! Isn't he awesome?" Matt exclaimed at the other two at the top of the stairs as they stared, mortified, at him.

"You know, Matt, at times like this, you really live up to your name." Mello muttered, more to himself.

"Huh?" Matt blinked owlishly as his got up, now scratching the dog behind its ears. "What're you guys doing there?"

Without another word, he crossed the hall, the dog hot on his tail, and started running upstairs. Unfortunately, he barely took a few steps, when he tripped and the trap activated, opening the closet's door in a sudden click. Matt jumped, frightened, when the door hit the nearby wall in its haste. The dog howled pitifully and ran into the kitchen, under the table.

"Holy shit, Matt, you _idiot_! You could have killed yourself if it was loaded!"

Mello grabbed Matt's hand and dragged him to the top of the stairs as N closed the closet door once again.

Mello wouldn't admit it to anyone in a lifetime but, in that fraction of second when the door hit the wall with a resounding thunder, he had truly felt terrified of what might have happened to Matt if they had finished setting up the prank. Stupid Matt and his lack of attention…

"I have created a slope inside the closet, so that the ammunition may fall freely, provided it has wheels," N muttered in his plain, bored tone once the other two had reached the top of the stairs.

"Perfect!" Mello exclaimed and, remembering his earlier idea, turned to Matt, "Your turn. Find appropriate ammunition."

Matt blinked owlishly at Mello for a few moments, then proceeded to examine the trap himself, muttering incompressible theories all the while.

"It has to be big and heavy," Mello could hear him say as the redhead opened the closet door gently and examined its insides, "but at the same time narrow enough to fit in here… and it has to have wheels… hmm…"

He entered the closet and closed the door after himself. Mello and Near exchanged funny looks but did not say anything. Mello was starting to seriously doubt Matt's thinking capacity.

Startling both of them, the redhead opened the door suddenly, a spider web stuck in his hair and ginning victoriously. "What about the fridge?" he asked as he got out of the closet, still grinning excitedly at Mello.

"Are you _stupid_?!" Mello exclaimed, grabbing Matt's shoulders and shaking him. Seriously, what was in that boy's mind? "How the hell could we get that monstrosity from the kitchen all the way up –" he suddenly stopped ranting, let go of Matt and turned around to stare at the closest door to him: L's room. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Matt doing the same thing.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Matt muttered lowly, as if afraid to even conceive such an idea.

"If it's not one of those muscle-head, moronic video games of yours, then yes," Mello answered, still not taking his eyes off L's room. He knew the man liked his privacy and that entering his room was a total no-no for everyone. But still…

"Do you think he'll get mad?"

"Most probably."

"Should we still do it?"

Mello paused, weighing his possibilities.

"Hell _yeah_!" he exclaimed after a moment.

**-**

**-**

**-**

Mello wiped the sweat from his forehead and groaned in exhaustion.

_Who knew pickaxes could be so damn heavy?!_

For the past half of hour he had been labouring intensely, trying to lift the old, slightly damaged pickaxe Matt had found in the basement and actually break the fucking floor with it! Unfortunately, the wooden flooring of the attic, squeaky and slightly strained in some places, was still intact, staring mockingly back at Mello.

A loud bark could be heard from behind him and Mello turned to glare at the stray dog Matt had insisted on residing in their own room.

"Are you mocking me?!" he yelled at the poor dog. In response, it only started wagging its tail, panting like mad.

"Did you say something, M?" N's muffled voice could be heard from directly below, in the second floor bathroom.

"Nothing!" Mello screamed in response, still glaring at the dog. He was going to _kill _Matt for this later. "Hasn't Matt come up yet?" he decided to ask.

"No," came the short answer.

Mello rolled his eyes, deciding to take a break. Sure, it had been his idea in the first place – and a bloody brilliant one too! – but the lack of means to achieve it was getting on his nerves. Not to mention that Matt, the physically strongest of the three, had decided that he could find a better weapon and disappeared on them.

Mello grabbed a bar of chocolate from the nightstand, brutally tore the wrapper and bit a big chuck out of it, desperately trying to ignore the obviously hungry looks Matt's new brownish dog was throwing him.

The sudden, resounding_ bang_ behind him, so loud it made the floor tremble underneath, startled him to the point of nearly chocking on his sugary bliss.

He turned immediately, only to come face to face with Matt. Not just the usual Matt, but a dirtier than ever Matt, wearing a pair of green tinted goggles and half dragging after him a dusty pick-hammer, probably older than the world itself.

"Hey, Mello, look what I found!" the redhead exclaimed, obviously proud of himself.

Mello was starting to seriously hate that line, as it seemed to bring only misfortune when said by Matt.

Mello didn't have time to voice any objection, as Matt plugged the pick-hammer in the nearby socket and got ready to start his mass destruction. Terrified, Mello fell on his backside and, in a last attempt at salvation, tried to hide under the bed, pride be damned.

To his complete and utter misfortune, he realised that the hideout was already taken. The brownish dog was staring at him from under the bed, looking just as frightened as Mello felt.

Unable to do anything else, Mello curled in a ball on the floor and covered his ears in a vain attempt of blocking the horrible noise he knew would soon start.

He wasn't disappointed.

**-**

**-**

**-**

Matt swore to himself as he adjusted his newly found goggles on top of his head. The air was so thick he was sure he'd suffocate long before anything interesting happened. The pile of his own dirty laundry felt surprisingly uncomfortable underneath him.

It probably had something to do with the fact that he was sharing barely a couple square feet with another two people…

To his annoyance, his left leg was completely asleep by now. Not to mention that his right arm, twisted in an unnatural angle as to not accidentally elbow Near in the back, was not doing much better. Deciding to claim a few more millimetres of space, he slowly spread his left let, glad to feel his blood running through it once more –

"Oww… Fuck you, Matt, you just kicked me, you idiot!" Mello croaked, unsatisfied, elbowing Matt in the gut as revenge.

"Sorry," he apologised quickly.

Matt had been constantly stretching his legs little by little in the past hour, as his larger form did not permit him to be locked in a wardrobe with two more people. By now, he had taken nearly all of Mello's space, and the blond was close to sitting in his lap.

"This is stupid." Matt finally muttered, stretching his legs a little more, careful as to not be noticed by Mello. "When did you say he'll be back, again?"

"Two, possibly three o'clock," Near promptly answered, half squished against Matt's right.

"It's eleveeeen," he proceeded to complain, knowing that the sixth time, would be just as unsuccessful as the previous five.

"So? He might skip school again, to trick us!" Mello pushed himself a little against Matt, eager for a little more space. "Imagine if he finds us immediately after the pranks…" Matt felt the blond shudder against him, just for good measure.

"Still, M, I find hiding in a wardrobe a bit… childish. I still think we could have locked ourselves in my room, as –"

"Screw your room, N! L has a spare key and, for whatever reason, he's most likely started working for Pretty Boy by now."

"So do we, M." Near answered. Matt mentally shuddered at the memory of what they had gone through to get their very own set of spare keys. Searching through Near's mother's undergarments drawer certainly did not count as an easy mission. But still, Mello's disgusted face as he had accidentally stumbled upon a bundle of pink lace had been so worth it!

"Funny, eh?" Matt gave his own too cents. After a few seconds he decided to address an issue he'd constantly thought about since he'd arrived "Why do you call each other by initials?"

For a while neither Mello, nor Near answered, as if expecting the other to start.

"They're our code names for –" Near finally started, but was quickly interrupted.

"Code names?! Cool, I want one too!"

"You can't." Mello said.

"Why not?"

"Because you're not in the original group of detectives." Matt didn't even want to ask what the hell that meant, but he wanted to be one too!

"Aww, come on, you could use some fresh adepts!"

Mello glared at him. Unfortunately, Matt took it as approval.

"Cool! I'll be… err… M!"

"Wait, you can't be M! _I'm_ M!"

"But…"

"Do you have a middle name?" Near joined in.

"Yeah, Mail."

"Damn," Mello swore. "Guess you're out of luck."

"_But_…!"

"You could share it," Near suggested.

"_Absolutely not_!" they both exclaimed at the same time.

Upon realising this, Mello turned to glare at Matt and for a few moments blazing flames flew between their eyes. Finally, both their expressions started softening slowly.

"Well, I guess I could –"

"No, you don't have to if you don't want to –"

"No, I think it's a good idea –"

"But, I insist, it's your letter –"

"Then it is settled. You're both M," Near decided to cut them off.

Mello curtly nodded and turned his gaze away.

Fortunately for Matt, the blond had not noticed that, by now, he was curled directly between Matt's legs. Not that he seemed uncomfortable…

**-**

**-**

**-**

"Oh, Light-kun, I feel like I haven't seen you in ages!" Misa exclaimed as she hung pathetically on Light's arm.

In her haste of squeezing his arm into oblivion, she did not notice his obvious roll of eyes. Mikami and Takada did but, as always, they didn't comment. Higuchi was so concentrated on discreetly – or so he thought – looking under Misa's skirt that he barely noticed where he was going.

School was already over, so Light and his group of morons were making their way to their respective homes. As much as Light didn't want to deal with them, he knew that, if he ignored them too much, they were bound to secretly follow him to the Rue residence. And the last thing he needed was the whole school thinking he'd eloped with Lawliet, or something just as disturbing.

"Actually, Light, you haven't spoken to either of us too much in the past week," Takada observed. She had a sly way of pretending she knew less than she actually knew. "And then we hear this funny rumour that a weird guy brought you to school by car this morning. Are you alright?"

Of course. This was Takada's falsely polite way of asking '_Who the hell brought you to school this morning?! Do I know him?! Is he single?!'_ Unfortunately for her, Light had every intention of lying.

"Ah, it was this colleague of dad's," he lied swiftly, "he came by to go over some documents with him this morning and then insisted on giving me a ride, as it was in his way."

Takada looked far from convinced. She knew very well of Light's affiliation to omitting the truth, but had no way to prove it.

"But really, Yagami-kun, don't be a stranger, you know we're your friends!" Mikami smiled so broadly that his eyes became mere slits. Light was sure that, if the bespectacled teen had had a tail, he'd be waggling it constantly. It was common knowledge how much Mikami worshiped the ground Light walked on.

_Yeah, friends. If it wasn't for these guys, I wouldn't be in the trouble I am now…_

But he just smiled his fake smile, mentally swearing to rip each of them apart as soon as he got the chance.

As soon as they reached a crossroads, Light frantically detached himself from Misa, while still trying to maintain a calm manner and waved his companions goodbye.

"I have to shop for some groceries. See you tomorrow!"

It wasn't actually a lie. He needed to buy Lawliet's promised cake and some more food for the starving devil spawns.

"Misa-Misa will call you tonight, Light-kun!" the bubbly blonde exclaimed while waving energetically and Light barely suppressed a grimace. How the hell had he managed to get stuck with her? With _all_ of them?!

He didn't look back the rest of the way to the grocery store, fearing he might actually come face to face with stupid Misa, overly-curious Takada, or annoying Mikami following him. It was better to think he was alone.

Once in the store, Light quickly put in his cart enough food for a healthy dinner, eager to arrive home already. He had been panicking all day about what his charges might be plotting. Not to mention that he was afraid that he'd find that Watari guy's bloody corpse in the middle of the living room.

At the mere thought he shuddered involuntarily. He was letting Lawliet's stupid superstitions to get to him…

He arrived in the desserts district, examining the cakes with a critical eye. Just then he realised that Lawliet had never mentioned what _kind_ of cake he wanted. There were at least a dozen flavours exposed in a glass show.

_Oh, what does it matter, anyway? I'll just get the cheapest one and get it over with…_

He unwillingly stopped his train of thought. After all, Lawliet had not only kept quiet, but actually helped him, in his own creepy way. But Light had no intention of buying the most expensive one – dark chocolate and whipped cream with hazelnut decorations and extravagant aspect – even if his life depended on it. That thing cost a fortune!

After no small amount of thinking, he decided on a simple, whipped cream covered one with strawberry decorations. If Lawliet didn't like it, he would just have to deal with it.

After he paid for his purchases, he headed straight home. He was eager to get there and possibly catch the three little devils red-handed and yet, at the same time, dreaded the moment he's have to set foot in that house.

Just as he'd nearly arrived at his destination, he noticed a red car racing past him. He paid it no attention, until he saw it park on the Rue's sideway. He mentally groaned and hurried his steps.

Lawliet had quite some explaining to do…

"_You!_" he said as the car's door opened and, sure enough, Lawliet exited, holding his laptop under one armpit. "Where have you been?"

"Hello, Raito-kun. How was your day?" the positively irritating man greeted, eyeing the nicely packed cake greedily. "I see Raito-kun has bought me cake."

Lawliet extended his hand to grab the cake, not even noticing Light's murderous glare.

"Oh, no you don't! You're eating dinner with the rest of us!"

The raven haired youth retreated his hand quickly when Light slapped it away and managed what seemed to be a half-pout, very awkward on his usually expressionless face. Light ignored him and promptly repeated his question.

"Where have you been?"

"I suspected my computer's power source had once again been damaged, so I took it for reparations. To my surprise, it turned out that quite a few pieces were missing, along with the hard drive."

Light snorted.

"You probably took them out for whatever, and then forgot about them," he said dismissively.

"It is possible," Lawliet agreed, through his eyes didn't seem to agree.

Light decided to ignore any suspicion, so he vaguely nodded at Lawliet's admission. He made his way to the front deck and ascended the few wooden stairs, all the while careful with his groceries. He unlocked the door and entered the house, half expecting to see a war zone.

He was surprised, but not at all disappointed to find the hall in perfect condition. Gently placing the groceries on an end table, he took off his shoes and neatly placed them at the house entrance. Despite the perfectly normal aspect of the house, something felt very, very wrong. Light scolded himself, for not being able to place his finger on the root of the awkwardness he felt.

Only when Lawliet closed the door after him with what seemed like an earth-shattering sound did he realise what it was.

_Silence. Why is it so __silent in here?_

Light spared Lawliet a quick glance as the other youth was taking off his worn sneakers. Despite his calm appearance, Lawliet's black, bug-like eyes were searching every corner of the room with alarming speed, thus Light knew that he was not the only one who noticed that something was out of sorts.

"Was Watari here when you came back this morning?" Light asked, voice barely above a whisper, as to not to disturb the silence.

"I do not think so," came the answer, also whispered.

Groceries forgotten, Light made his way to the kitchen, closely examining its interior through the open archway. There did not seem to be any trace of either human being or devil spawn. There was also a distinctive lack of vandalism.

_Clear._

Ignoring, Lawliet, who seemed to be stuck in the middle of the hall, interested in Light's every move, he made his way to the door opposite the kitchen and creaked it open, enough to examine his surroundings. The living room seemed to be in the same innocent state as the kitchen. He pushed the door open roughly without entering, and examined the insides of the room better.

_Nothing._

He turned around and noticed that Lawliet was examining him closely. Light raised his eyebrow in inquiry. He did not know what he was enquiring; maybe if the coast was clear; maybe where they should search next; maybe why the hell the weird raven was staring at him…

Predictably, Lawliet answered with an innocent shrug. Light mentally rolled his eyes.

"Do you think we're being too paranoiac?" he asked, still whispering.

Lawliet seemed to contemplate that for a few moments; finally, he just shrugged again and made his way to the staircase. Hand gripping the railway, he started ascending the steps to the second floor…

Unfortunately, he tripped on something invisible, disgracefully falling on all fours.

Light didn't have time to mock the man's lack of grace – or even to properly register what happened – when a door directly opposite the staircase, the one Light had never spared a second glance to, snapped open. To the two youths' utter horror, an enormous rectangular object slipped out of the room, little wheels squeaking as it started skating down the stairs.

_ShithitshitshitSHIT! It's going to hit him!_ Light mind screamed to him, but his legs failed to take action. He was just standing in the middle of the room, mouth agape, watching as the enormous kitchen appliance slammed down every step with horrifying speed.

Lawliet himself could do little but watch as his favourite electronic device was getting closer and closer to him as his hands trembled and his eyes widened.

Through the loud screeching and squeaking noises, Light finally managed to snap out of his shock and, moments before the monstrosity might have hit Lawliet, leaped and grabbed the raven's ankle, pulling one single time with all his might, fortunately managing to drag Lawliet out of the way on his stomach, as if the man was a sack of potatoes.

No sooner had he pulled Lawliet out of the way, managing to fall on his backside in the process, when the object finished descending the stairs but, due to its running start, didn't stop until it hit the wall directly opposite the stairs with a loud crack.

Dust flew as the – now completely destroyed – refrigerator stopped its erratic adventure.

Light, not realising he was still holding Lawliet's ankle, gaped at the utter madness of what had just happened. The only coherent thought he could manage was:

"FUCK!"

"Indeed."

He turned his eyes on Lawliet, who was lying on his stomach, in the same position he had landed when Light had brusquely pulled his leg – literally. The raven was gazing at the fridge with a mixture of anger, surprise and sadness.

Without another word, the older man got up and went to examine the damage. It didn't take him long to realise he couldn't even budge the monstrosity from its place, plastered against the wall.

"I'm afraid, Mello-kun, Matt-kun and Near-kun have gone too far this time." He muttered, still gazing at the ruined fridge.

"No shit…"

Light himself had gotten up and started examining the fridge. There wasn't a doubt that it was the same refrigerator he had seen in Lawliet's room the other night. How had those devils managed to get it in that room and, more importantly, how would he, Light, get it back up there?!

_At least_, a voice in his head added cynically,_ now I won't be worrying Lawliet has a full stocked fridge in his room…_

Raging inside, Light grabbed Lawliet's forearm and dragged him away from the scene of the crime. The older man was still gazing at the ruined fridge, now with a look of neutrality, as if he saw such things daily, even as Light started dragging him up the stairs.

"Raito-kun, do you think it is wise to go upstairs?" Lawliet suddenly muttered, not adverting his gaze.

Light felt his blood boil at the implications.

"I'm not afraid of them!" he growled, tugging Lawliet's arm to make his point.

"That, I don't doubt. I am more concerned about any more potentially mortal traps they might have set."

Lawliet finally stopped looking at his lost treasure and turned to Light.

_He's got a point… As much as I hate it, he's got a point. _

"I'll go first," Light finally muttered, annoyed he had been proven wrong, "you cover my back. Got it?"

He was half expecting Lawliet to refuse and turn back to his fridge, but the raven just nodded.

Through the eyes of an outsider, what followed would have seemed similar to a Benny Hill situation. The two, Light first and Lawliet, walking backwards, after, ascended the stairs with great difficulty, careful to examine every corner of the house in their way. Through this, Light bitched, snapped, bitched, argued, and bitched some more. Lawliet merely ignored him, examining a second time what they were leaving behind. After an unnatural amount of time, they reached the place directly below the trap door leading to the attic.

The ladder which led upstairs was drawn, as if waiting for someone to climb it.

"They're waiting for us," Light muttered. Lawliet simply nodded. "Do you think there'll be another trap?"

"It is possible," the raven answered, looking in Light's eyes with an unnerving expression. "Through it is just as probable that they left the ladder here especially for us to think such."

_Of course, _Light suddenly realised._ This is exactly something they'd do. They're probably there, hiding from us! Why those little…_

"Let's go," the brunet suddenly decided.

Without waiting for a confirmation, Light tested the ladder for any 'accidental' fissures and proceeded to climb it. Upon reaching the end, he opened the trap door with one hard shove.

When he was halfway into the room, his eyes fell on the only thing that was out of the ordinary. In the corner of the room, resting on a bunch of old rags, was an ugly, brown stray dog.

"YOU!" Light screamed, unable to contain his fury. Without considering his options, he climbed the rest of the way, all the time glaring at the poor creature. Masahiro would kill him if he found out they'd been keeping _dogs_ in the house!

"Raito-kun?" Lawliet's inquiring voice from halfway up the ladder fell to deaf ears.

Light stormed to the dog's place, paying little notice to his surroundings. When it happened, for the first half of second he thought he'd slipped on the old, light beige rug. It took him another second to realize that, rug and all, he was falling through the floor!

He didn't even have time to yell, when he hit something soft on the floor below. Despite the lack of pain and broken bones, the brunet felt his entire body freezing as soon as he touched solid ground. One quick, terrified look was enough for him to realise that he had fallen straight into the tub of the second floor bathroom. Said tub contained a mattress for amelioration of the fall, and was filled with ice cold water.

"FUUUUUUCK!" was the fist word that slipped between Light's lips when he felt he could talk again.

His eyes, swollen from anger and humiliation, glared with all their might at the now visible hole in the ceiling.

_How… how… how had they managed this?!_

Suddenly, Lawliet's head appeared, staring through the three feet large hole. His expression was a mixture of shock and amusement as he noticed Light, stuck in the tub and throwing draggers with his eyes.

"Is Raito-kun alright?" he asked innocently.

"F-f-fuck you, R-Ryuzaki! Light stuttered, as he had started trembling violently. "G-get down he-here already!"

"Is Raito-kun sure?" the raven haired man said, his voice mocking.

"Yes, I'm f-f-fucking s-sure! Now g-get down!"

At that, Lawliet sat on his backside and let his legs hang through the hole, ready to jump over Light.

"_Not like that!_ T-Take the f-fucking stairs!"

Blinking one last time, as if to show that he had wanted to do just that all along, Lawliet got up and disappeared from view.

Still trembling from the biting icy water, Light gravely got up from the tub. Droplets of water were pouring heavily from his hair and sleeves and his clothing had stuck comically to his skin, making all his physical features – not that he was ashamed of them, mind you – stand out.

Light exited the bathroom, leaving trails of water after him. He wiped his face with his equally wet hands, mixing the few hot tears of pain that had slipped from his eyes with the cold water.

He didn't even contemplate what he was doing when he opened Lawliet's room, in search for a towel. As soon as he turned the doorknob, a whispered voice, barely distinguishable, was heard from the room.

"Shush, Matt, be quiet! He'll hear us!"

"Do you think it worked?"

"Of course it worked! Didn't you hear him?"

Blood boiling, Light slammed the door open, examining his surroundings. They were there, the little bastards! They were somewhere in that room and he was going to catch them and torture them until they wished they were dead, just to escape from him!

The room was… empty. The voices had stopped and a soft breeze came from the only window in the room. Light was ready to deem the conversation as his imagination when he noticed something. A red sneaker's tip could be seen from under Lawliet's bed. Matt's sneaker.

_They're not escaping me now!_

Once again not considering the consequences of his actions, Light entered the room in a haste, dropped on all fours and peeked under the bed. It took him a few moments to see anything through the darkness, besides a small, red dot floating in thin air. After a second of squirming, he realised what would happen, but it was too late.

Matt's remote-controlled car was innocently placed under the bed next to Matt's sneaker, a cheap recording camera tied with scotch on top of it, recording Light's every expression.

Suddenly, in the space of one millisecond, he noticed another object tied to the car, this one smaller. He realised it was a walkie-talkie just was it buzzed something that vaguely sounded like:

"_Asta la vista, sucker!"_

Before he could properly comprehend the words, the toy car started moving, heading straight for Light's head. The brunet could do little but turn his face to the ground to protect it, smashing his nose against the hard wood. As a weird bee-like buzz started, he realised that a third object had been attached to a car, this time under it…

… an electric shaver.

He wanted to scream. He wanted to scream bloody murder so that someone, even if it was just Lawliet, would come and save him from being slaughtered by a fucking shaver! But he could do nothing as the blasted thing crawled on his head, as if in mock slow motion. He noticed with horror the few short strands of auburn hair falling limply next to him on the floor.

The toy car finished its slaughter and stopped in the middle of his back innocently, as if it had never moved.

Light threw the bloody thing against the wall with all his strength, finally managing to scream bloody murder when he saw the sharp razors under the toy. He was terrified to even look in a mirror and just stayed there, on all fours, staring at the, now immobile, car.

Just then, Lawliet entered the room, one hand in his jeans' pocket and the other carrying a couple of plain, white towels.

"Raito-kun, I brought…" But his voice faltered when he caught sight of Light.

Light knew the other man was staring at the top of his head, where he didn't even want to remember what horror had taken place. Lawliet just continued to stare unhelpfully for a few seconds, his expression once again unreadable.

Not being able to take the awkward silence anymore, Light frantically got up, went to the window and examined himself in the glass. He barely stiffened a second scream. It wasn't as bad as he had originally feared, but he's still maintained hope that his haircut had not been mauled noticeably.

Unfortunately, the crown of his head (the only affected area) now displayed a patch of randomly chopped hair, no longer that an inch, sticking out in a horrible cowlick.

"This is it," he muttered in a whisper, a tinge of hysteria overcoming him. "THIS IS IT, YOU HEAR ME?!"

He stormed out of the room, brutally pushing Lawliet out of the way.

_There will be blood__... oh, yes… there will be a fucking massacre!_

**-**

**-**

**-**

Matt grinned as Yagami's distorted face appeared on his laptop screen. So far, everything was going perfectly according to plan. Mello and Near's pranks had worked, as far as he could hear, and now it was his moment of glory.

He barely stiffened a giggle when Yagami started squirming his eyes in the dark, his nose comically enlarged due to the position of the camera.

Not wasting any more time, he grabbed the remote control and the walkie-talkie and played his part, all the while gazing at the computer screen to follow his progress.

Sure enough, seconds later erratic screams could be heard through the entire house and Mello, who had been keeping a lookout at the trap door, grinned. Matt turned off the walkie-talkie so they could freely talk.

"It worked! I can't believe it worked!" Mello's whisper echoed through the room.

"Of course it worked!" Matt said, insulted.

"I wonder if he was truly hurt, or just scared," a third voice, Near's, was heard. The boy was keeping a lookout at the now fully visible hole in the ground. After all, L had just left, they couldn't, under any circumstance, have him or Yagami back too soon and see them.

"Who cares?" Mello answered, grinning from ear to ear. "At least now he'll know not to – "

"YOU LITTLE MIDGETS!" the voice thundered from the floor below. The trio could barely associate it with Yagami's usual calm and controlled tone. "COME DOWN HERE THIS MOMENT! I'M WARNING YOU!"

The three looked at each other, suddenly not so happy. Maybe they'd pushed the joke a tad bit too far. What would Yagami do if they went down?

"I don't like this…" Matt whispered, eyes as big as saucers.

The other two didn't answer, but they didn't look too comfortable themselves.

"IF YOU DON'T COME DOWN HERE NOW, I SWEAR I WON'T BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR MY ACTIONS!"

"We should go," Matt suddenly said, starting to feel truly afraid.

"Are you _crazy_?! He'll tear us apart!"

"He'll do it anyway if he comes up here!"

"I agree. Also, we can be sure hiding in the closet will not save us this time," Near added.

Mello sighed loudly and opened the trap door. With no small amount of hesitation, he descended the stairs, followed by the other two. When they reached the ground, they aligned themselves one next to the other, hands behind their backs. Even in such moment of crisis, they unconsciously thought that, if they acted like nice little kids, they'll get away with it.

Yagami looked livid. His eyes were red in fury and he was dripping gallons of water on the floor. L was behind him, hands in his pockets, studying the brunet as if he was an interesting specimen.

Matt could barely contain a giggle when he saw the chunk of hair sticking in odd angles on top of the teenager's head. He supposed it wouldn't do him any good to openly start laughing, so he bit his tongue.

"You…" Yagami started, his voice hoarse from all the screaming, "…are grounded for the rest of eternity."

The trio exchanged glances, wondering if this was better or worse that a violent death. Knowing Yagami, it was probably the latter. Mello looked as if he might contest but, luckily, kept his opinions to himself.

"For starters, none of you three will get any dinner tonight," Yagami continued his rant, now pointing at each of the three.

"But we didn't have any lunch –" Matt tried to reason.

"And whose fault is that?!"

"Well, frankly, yours…" Mello finally muttered, unable to keep silent anymore.

It proved to be a fatal mistake as Yagami once again exploded. Matt could swear he saw steam coming out of the brunet's ears.

"THAT'S IT! GO TO YOUR ROOMS _NOW_!"

The three didn't wait to be told twice and started climbing back to the attic.

" –YOUR _OWN_ ROOMS, NATE!"

Near promptly got off the ladder and ran as fast as his short legs and too large pyjamas permitted him to his room, slamming the door.

Out of the corner of his eye, Matt noticed Yagami clench his fists and mutter something obscene, then push L out of his way and descend the stairs to the first floor.

**-**

**-**

**-**

The first thing Light heard as the entered the kitchen and took a seat at the table were heart-wrenching screams, barely audible at first. They seemed to come from the wall in the direction of the small kitchen storage room.

The fact that he couldn't recognise the voice was not at all reassuring.

He got up from the table and started inspecting the storage room's door, not daring to open it. After all, so far only bad things have resulted from taking even the smallest risks.

When Lawliet entered and froze at hearing the screams, Light immediately realised it was not a prank. He even had a fair idea of who it had to be, so he unlocked the door and opened it gently. He let go of the handle and took a few steps back, terrified, when he noticed the poor human being come out.

"Watari-san!" L muttered, eyes even wider than usual.

"Lawliet!" the man exclaimed when his eyes fell on him.

He looked old enough to be his great-grandfather, Light cynically decided. The old man's small spectacles and smart, British figure were put to shame by his wrinkled skin and white hair. He might have been an intimidating person twenty years prior, but right then he was just an easy prey.

_No wander they got rid of him so easily…_

"Are you alright sir?" Light asked politely.

"Yes, yes, so – What happened to you, son?" Watari asked as soon as his eyes fell on Light. The brunet realised how pitiful he must look at that moment, drenched and missing chunks of hair.

"L-Long story."

"Oh, dear. Where are the children?"

"Don't worry, sir, they're taken care of," Light authoritatively said. It didn't hurt to act like an adult, if only to patch his broken pride. "I promise you they will get what they deserve and you, sir, will be amended for what has happened."

"Amended? Oh, don't worry, son! They are kids! They are allowed to have some fun once in a while. No compensation is needed."

_They're just kids… That's what I thought too and look where it got me. _

"Now," Watari said, "if Lawliet would be so kind as to accompany me to the entrance…"

Lawliet nodded and followed the old man out of the kitchen. Light politely bid him goodbye, then crashed into the closest kitchen chair. He rested his head in his hand, feeling beyond tired. He vaguely realised that he should change from those drenched clothes as soon as possible, but he just didn't have the strength to do so at the moment.

_What's next? _he continued to repeat in his mind. After all, it was only Wednesday and the Rue couple were coming back on Sunday. He had a feeling they'd be dragging him out of there in a coffin.

Not long after the front door shut after Watari, Lawliet's footsteps were heard up the stairs, followed by silence.

Light was ready to fall asleep right there when a clean, white towel was thrown over his head, covering his vision, and two spidery hands started to wipe his hair dry against his consent.

_Okay, this is it. I've had it with this guyIvehaditwiththisguyIvehaditwiththisguyIvehadit – _

"STOP IT!" he yelled while snapping Lawliet's hand's off of him and threw the towel in a random corner of the room. "What the _fuck_ do you think you're doing?!"

He turned to see Lawliet staring at him with a blank expression, blinking confusedly.

"Raito-kun is still wet."

"SO WHAT THE FUCK'S YOUR PROBLEM!?" His voice once again thundered through the entire house. As soon as the words left his mouth, he realised he couldn't stop himself from continuing. He had been building all that frustration for too long and had to let it out. "WHY THE HELL ARE YOU FOLLOWING ME DON'T YOU SEE I DON'T NEED YOU YOU'RE JUST THERE TO ANNOY ME AND GET ME INTO TROUBLE WHY THE FUCK DON"T YOU CRAWL INTO A HOLE AND DIE?!"

He didn't care what he was saying and he knew he made absolutely no sense, but it felt so good to let it all out on the person who started everything.

"Raito-kun is behaving childishly." Lawliet simply stated as soon as Light stopped to take a breath. The raven looked completely unfazed by him.

"_I'm being childish?!_ YOU FREAK YOU'RE EVEN WORSE THEN THEM BECAUSE I CAN'T EVEN SEND YOU TO YOUR ROOM AND MAKE YOU STAY THERE YOU JUST COME AFTER ME WITH YOUR WITTY COMEBACKS AND STUPID ACTIONS AND GET THE HELL AWAY FROM ME!"

To prove his point, he stormed out of the kitchen, all the time glaring at the other youth. As he reached the front of his room, Lawliet himself exited the kitchen, looking mildly amused.

"You know what, _Ryuzaki_?" Light continued, spitting the raven's taboo name. "FUCK YOU, YOU HEAR ME, _RYUZAKI_? FUCK Y –"

But his sentence was cut short as he opened the door to his room and a bucketful of black paint hit him straight in the crown of his head, making him lose his balance.

_How ironic_, his subconscious told him, _you checked all doors but one and just that one happened to be messed with… _

His last conscious thought before blacking out was

_fuck._

**-**

**-**

**-**

**A/N: **And this is it! Please review and tell me what you think, I'm not too sure about this chapter, especially the last half T_T Am I weird for pitying Watari more than Light, even given the circumstances? 0.o

And we're nearly finished with the prank war! There will be a little more in the next chapter, but it'll probably be shadowed by _something else_ *whistles innocently*

Thank you for reviewing to **blueberry-90, StandardSpork, Yoru K-Chan, anime-fushigi, deathnoteno1fan-codegeasslover, fishyy, Nekotsubasa, bookenworum, Kiku18, Social disorder, IsobelAnis, NX-Loveless-XN, Black-Dranzer-1119** and countless others who added my fic to their faves and alerts! You guys spoil me too much XD


	6. Do You Want Some Cheese With That Whine?

**Disclaimer: **It is with a heavy heart that I admit that the exclusive rights to Death Note aren't mine, nor will they ever be *wails*

**Rating:** M

**Pairings:** L/Light, with hints of Matt/Mello.

**Summary:** If there was one thing Light Yagami hated more than kids messing with his shampoo, kids nearly chocking on Lego pieces and let's not forget kids exploding the whole TV set, it was nineteen years old sweet-loving kids with a severe case of chicken pox that loved to stare at him while he slept.

**A/N:** This has to be my quickest update since… ever o.0 I think I might be getting a fever if I've willingly started writing without trying to convince myself to do it for a week beforehand.

Not to mention that I find this chapter half fan-service, half useless to the plot. Well, not completely useless, as it'll make the situation even more awkward, but I shouldn't have wasted a whole chapter on it… I think I just went from 10 total chapters to 11 T_T

**-**

**-**

**-**

**Forever and a Week**

**Chapter 6**

**Do You Want Some Cheese With That Whine?**

**-**

**-**

**-**

Light frowned as he felt consciousness draw upon him. He'd had the strangest dream the previous night. Something about Lawliet locking himself in his room and refrigerators trying to kill him. Not to mention that, at some point, he'd had his hair chopped off.

Vaguely wondering what that could mean, Light opened his eyes and was confused to find himself on the rough, blue carpet of his temporary room.

_Did I fall out of bed during the night? That has never happened before!_

He braced himself on one elbow and rubbed his eyes with the other hand. As he turned his head to inspect the rest of his room, he came face to face with…

…Lawliet. The man was crouched next to his head, knees to his chest and palms resting on them, studying Light's every move. Surprisingly for the brunet, he was more freaked out by the disturbing resemblance to his dream than the actual fact that Lawliet had gotten into his locked room.

Staring right back at Lawliet with a blank expression, he got up on his knees, just then noticing the dark green blanket that fell off his back. If he had indeed fallen from his bed, he couldn't have taken the blanket with him, could he?

Wait a minute… since when did he have a _green _blanket?! All his bedclothes were _blue_ themed!

Just then his eyes fell on his garments. Not only was he dressed in his day clothes, but he was also half drenched.

Only then did he start considering that, maybe, his _dream_ was not actually a dream. Seconds later, he had remembered everything. Lawliet actually _had _locked himself in Light's room. A fridge _had _skated its way down the stairs and slammed itself in a wall. The last thing he remembered was being hit in the head by a bucket of paint while he was…

…screaming profanities at Lawliet.

Eyes widening in humiliation, Light adverted his eyes from Lawliet's unblinking ones. Had he… had he actually exploded like that? What happened to his controlled calm and intelligent remarks? What happened to his damn _pride_?!

He looked at his hands and noticed the strains of black paint. He could guess his hair and face didn't look much better. The carpet was also full of it and he realised he'd have to clean it later.

He grabbed the blanket from its place pooling around him, noticing it also bared marks of paint. Eager to break the awkward silence, he addressed Lawliet.

"Is this yours?"

The black haired man nodded, still not taking his eyes off Light. His face was unreadable in its blankness. Light mistook it for anger.

_Of course he's angry! I have just openly ridiculed him loud enough for the entire neighbourhood to hear!_

"Oh…" he said dumbly, unable to think of a better answer. "Er… I…"

_I can't just say 'Thank you'! Even if I __have acted immature, he's still an annoying bastard who won't leave me alone! But… then again, he might not have done much, but he did go out of his way to get a blanket to cover me. Why would he, if he's angry with me? Why, Lawliet, you idiot?_

"…I'll wash it later," he finished lamely, still not looking at the other man.

Lawliet just stared for a long time, as if contemplating Light's words. Finally, he just nodded again.

Avoiding the staring man at all costs, Light got up completely, trying his best to ignore the uncomfortable feeling of his pants stuck to his ass. He had to change and soon.

Just then he noticed his mattress. Or the lack thereof.

"Lawliet," he said, still staring at the wooden skeleton of his bed, naked without its mattress and sheets, "where is my mattress?"

Lawliet, too, turned his unblinking stare on the rest of Light's bed, thumb pressed to his lips.

"In the bathtub. Don't you remember, Raito-kun?" he answered, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

_Of course_. If they had already found a way to get into his locked room, why not use his goddamed mattress too?! Light mentally rolled his eyes for not realising this sooner.

Light made his way to the wardrobe, wiping his blackened hands on his equally dirty pants, and opened it. He carefully took out a pair of khakis and a blazer, conscious that Lawliet was still watching his every move. After he closed the wardrobe, Light turned to stare awkwardly at Lawliet.

_Since when are you awkward about Lawliet, of all people?! _his conscience scolded him._ It's your room after all; tell him to get the hell out of it! _

"I'm going to take a shower," he tried to beat around the bush. He should have guessed such subtleties did not work on Lawliet, as the man simply nodded once again, not at all keen on moving. "I'd rather you left my room," the brunet tried the direct approach.

"Does Raito-kun have something to hide?"

_Yes; m__y privacy._

"Are you searching for something in my room?" Light decided to counter the question with one of his own.

He hadn't expected it to work, but Lawliet just got up, thumb still plastered to his lips, went for the door and exited, Light following him. The raven haired man just went up the stairs without another word.

_This guy has to be one of the few unsolvable mysteries of the world,_ Light decided with a roll of eyes.

Change of clothes kept a fair distance from his dirty self, Light entered the bathroom, keen on checking all toiletries in the room for any suspicious substances.

As he pulled off his filthy blazer, he caught sight of his reflection in the mirror. Sure enough, his face and hair were full of dried black paint, making his once auburn locks stick in random directions. With no little amount of horror, he noticed that a few strands on the crown of his head, shorter than the rest, were erected upwards.

For any normal person, it wouldn't have been that much of a problem. The hairs would have been barely noticeable with the help of appropriate hair products. Someone like Lawliet would have barely even noticed he was missing hair! But Light…

_How could I have forgotten about that?! __I'll __**kill**__ them!_

Raging, Light shoved his fist in his mouth and bit brutally to stop himself from once again screaming bloody murder.

**-**

**-**

**-**

For the past half of hour Light had been glaring at his half-eaten sandwich.

He didn't even have anything against the poor chunk of cheese, meat and bread, but his current level of displeasure made him want to take it all out on any inanimate object he crossed paths with.

He had just finished taking his shower and decided on a snack before tackling his mountain of untouched homework. He'd been running behind with school in the past few days, due to the unfortunate events with the house's inhabitants.

Just thinking about his charges made Light's blood boil some more.

Only then, while clean and not fearing for his life every second – at least not to the same extent – did he realise the damages that those brats have caused the house. Lawliet's fridge was completely glued to the wall next to the front door; only a repairman could probably undo the damages, and maybe, if they were lucky, actually bring the poor appliance to life again.

The hole in the ceiling of the second floor bathroom was mesmerising. Light could stare at it infinitely, contemplating all the ways in which Masahiro would torture him when he saw it. Fortunately, one of the kids' heads – mostly Mello – would always appear through it eventually and stick his tongue at him.

And, not the least, Light's mattress was completely and utterly soaked. He had had the time of his life pulling it out of the tub and dragging it to the back yard to dry. Any neighbour passing through would deem them crazy if they saw a bed wrapper lying in their lawn, but there was only so much a blow-drier could do.

And if it all wasn't enough for the brunet's delicate nerves, Lawliet's messy mop of hair decided to appear through the kitchen arc, followed by the rest of his hunched body. The raven had both of his hands in his pockets and was staring at Light with his usual blank eyes.

Unable to muster the energy to even tell Lawliet away, Light simply stared back. And stared. And stared some more. Just as he felt he couldn't stop himself from blinking any longer, he decided to break the silence.

"Yes?"

"I believe this belongs to Raito-kun," the man simply answered and extracted a delicate object from his pocket, holding it between his index and thumb in his now typical fashion, and handed it to Light.

"Oh," Light simply muttered, noticing it was his own electric shaver.

"I have found it taped to Matt-kun's car, along with another few electronics."

_Figures. I wonder how I didn't recognise it earlier. Maybe because it was threatening to peel my scalp off…_

"Okay," Light said simply, grabbing the gadget from Lawliet's fingers.

_He'd better not be expecting me to thank him…_

Luckily, Lawliet expected no such thing, as he turned around and exited the kitchen without another word.

Light rolled his eyes and placed the shaver on the table, as far away from himself as possible. He wouldn't be using it anytime soon after his last… adventure.

Getting tired of waiting for hunger to kick in again, he got up from the table, leaving his sandwich there for later. He grabbed Lawliet's dark green blanket from where he'd left it on the nearby chair, and headed to the basement to wash it.

In a few minutes he got the washing machine up and going and was staring around the damp, dark room. It would be positively amusing to lock the three devil spawns in there for a couple of days, until they learned some manners. It would be plain hysterical to lock Lawliet along with them. That way, the brunet would actually have some peace and quiet.

Sighing to himself, Light decided to make his way to his room when a discreet spark from the darker side of the room caught his attention. He stepped closer, only to notice it was a hand-made, wooden rack, overstuffed with near identical glass bottles, shining invitingly in the dim light.

_Wine,_ he concluded after one quick glance at the labels. _It seems Masahiro likes collecting wine. How… odd, for a middle-class man like him. _

Sure, there weren't any actual expensive drinks, the oldest one being only from ten years prior, but there was something special about their appearance, even with the thin layer of dust that covered them, that made them so appealing – similar to old memories, filled with heart-wrenching nostalgia.

Of, course, Light had never been inebriated. He despised people who drunk bottle after bottle, in a vain attempt to forget about their pitiful problems. But now, after all that had happened to him in the past few days, forgetting about everything for a few hours seemed ideal.

Deciding on the spot, he grabbed a bottle from the back, carefully rearranging the others to cover up the missing space. He blew the dust off it and read the label. It was only a semi-cheap red wine from two years prior, but it would have to do.

_If Masahiro demands to know what I've dome with it, I'll just tell him it's payback for my hair-stylist bill_, Light thought cynically as he made his way up the stairs.

**-**

**-**

**-**

"Do you think we have anything to worry about?" Mello asked between bites of chocolate.

_Damn Pretty Boy for sending us up here without dinner! Luckily__, I've foreseen a similar problem and packed enough chocolate to last me all week!_

The 'similar' problem being, of course, the lack of chocolate on a ray of several miles.

"Given Light Yagami's current state of anger and the bits and pieces of personality I have gathered up to this moment, I am very certain that, yes, we should be worrying," N answered in his usual robotic tone.

The white haired freak had sneaked out of his room half of hour after the final prank had taken place and settled himself into Matt and Mello's attic, asking if they had anything to eat. He was currently gazing in a quite disturbed manner at the mountains of chocolate Mello had placed in the middle of the room. Matt's stupid dog was sitting right next to him, and Mello had a hard time figuring which of the two hand the most pitiful pair of puppy-dog eyes.

"Damn it."

The two boys turned to look at the third inhabitant of the room, who had been searching in his voyage bags for quite some while, muttering obscenities all the while.

"If you're looking for spare batteries, there're a couple on the nightstand," Mello tried guessing, as the redhead hadn't mentioned what he was searching for so feverishly.

"Hmm? Oh, no, I don't need batteries."

"Battery charger?"

"No."

"GameBoy?"

"_No._"

"Goggles? They're right on your head you know…"

"NO, man!"

"Then _what_?!"

"_This!_" Matt suddenly exclaimed, startling both his companions – although N did not even bat an eyelash.

Matt made his way to the mountain of chocolate where N, Mello and the dog were settled, gripping a crumpled paper tightly in his hand. On closer inspection, Mello noticed it was a paper container, half filled with something.

"It's this stuff dad likes. He doesn't let me smoke them, but I've tried anyway. They're awesome!" Matt explained, opening the pack and revealing about a dozen thin, circular objects. A strong, biting smell spread into the entire attic.

"Cigarettes," N said before Mello could.

"You've been _smoking_?" Mello exclaimed, his tone half admiring, half disgusted.

"Well, not that much, since my dad nearly caught me, but that's why I've taken this when he wasn't looking," the redhead grinned, proud of himself.

Matt then extracted a box of matches from one of his pockets and, fingers slightly trembling, placed a cigarette between his lips and lit it. He took a long, exaggerated drag and quickly released it, eyes slightly watering from the thick smoke. The other two boys had been staring at him all the while as if he had grown an extra head.

"What?" Matt asked, genuinely confused. "Do you want some, too?" he offered the fuming joint to the other two.

Mello immediately shook his head, eyes hypnotized by the waves of dark smoke leaving its end.

"You do realise that smoking is the primary cause for lung cancer and several other serious illnesses, don't you?" N asked in his usual all-knowing tone, but he, too, was looking uncomfortably at the joint.

"Do you want it or not?" Matt asked, ignoring the comment.

Mello was fully expecting N to refuse. Someone like N _did not_ get involved with things as risky as smoking. Possibly just to prove him wrong, the white haired boy extended a small hand and grabbed the cigarette awkwardly. He placed it between his lips and took a short, timid draw…

…only to start couching violently seconds after.

"Hey, are you okay?" Matt asked, looking alarmed.

N coughed one more time and handed the cigarette back, eyes slightly watering. Before Matt could reclaim it, Mello quickly grabbed it and put it between his own lips, before he lost his courage. That was his chance. His chance to show N that he was better than him at something, even if it was only smoking. After all, how hard could it be?!

He took a long, confident drag, fully expecting to feel that light-headed sensation people always talked about. Unfortunately, the only thing he felt was an uncomfortable sting down his throat as his body rejected the smoke. He couldn't contain himself more than one second, before he started coughing violently and tears started pouring from his eyes.

"M-Mello! Hey, man, hang in there!" he vaguely heard Matt in the distance and a hand started patting his back.

Only after a full minute did his coughing finally subside. The first thing he noticed was that the blasted joint was no longer between his fingers, but held by Matt as far away from the blond as possible.

Humiliated, Mello started whipping his tears away, not wanting to meet anyone's eyes. The disgusting taste of tobacco just wouldn't disappear from his taste buds and he felt like he could retch any minute.

"Never again," he finally muttered, when he felt his voice come back to him.

"Agreed," N said from his left.

Mello removed his hands from his now red and puffy eyes, just in time to see Matt shrug and once again place the cigarette in his own mouth.

Outraged by the action, Mello grabbed the damned thing between the redhead's lips, threw it to the ground and extinguished it with his foot.

"And neither will you," he decided, glaring at Matt, who just looked confused.

**-**

**-**

**-**

Tap. Tap. Tap.

L's spidery fingers had been typing at his laptop continuously for the past few hours, save for the occasional snack break, in which he practically vacuumed another piece of the cake Raito-kun had bought him.

His project was nearly finished, but he'd have to pull an all-nighter if he wanted to make it to the deadline.

Which just happened to be the following day…

Not taking his eyes off the screen, L's fingers groped blindly across the bed for the empty plate, once filled with cake, and proceeded to fish every crumb of sugar off it, then lick\ it off his finger.

He was so concentrated on his work that he nearly bit his finger when a loud crashing sound was heard from the floor below. L detached himself from his bed and went to the door, all the while wary of any further noise.

What if his relatives had started cooking up something again? It was now very obvious that he had taken Raito-kun's side, thus they wouldn't show him any mercy.

He creaked the door open and peeked outside, only to be met with complete silence.

Would it be wise to wander on the halls in this type of situation? Then again, his room was much too close to the lion's den for comfort. It would be much safer if he went to Raito-kun's room.

After all, hadn't the noise come from downstairs? He was fairly sure the children had not left their rooms. There was a possibility of forty-five percent that Raito-kun had endangered himself and was in dire need of help!

Deciding it was only in his best interest to check on the brunet, L exited the room and, in a comical overcautious manner, went down the stairs.

**-**

**-**

**-**

Light giggled to himself as he gazed at the remains of what was once a medium sized pot. He'd been trying to hold onto the coffee table to maintain his balance and had only managed to accidentally hit the nearby plant pot and it had smashed to the ground with a small explosion.

Trying to bite back the sudden need to laugh hysterically, he grabbed the bottle of wine, now containing only two fingers' worth of liquid, and took another long gulp.

After he'd grabbed the wine bottle in the basement, he'd come to his room and started doing his homework, taking a sip of the bitter-sweet liquid every now and then. By the time he'd reached the half of the bottle, his vision had gotten hazy and he could barely see what he was writing. After another few attempts at solving mathematical equations – and ending up writing on the desk – he'd given up and fully concentrated on the nearly empty bottle in front of him.

He'd just dropped to his knees and started collecting the shards from the ground, when the door opened and Lawliet's mop of messy hair made its appearance in the room.

Did Lawliet ever cut his hair? Or comb it, for that matter?

Light unconsciously started giggling once again at the mental image of a Lawliet with ankle-length, uncombed hair.

"Is Raito-kun alright?" the raven asked cautiously as he entered the room and closed the door after himself.

"I'm fuckin' perfect!" Light exclaimed and a wide, stupid grin settled on his face. He took another swing of wine and smacked his lips in a very impolite manner.

"Raito-kun is drunk," Lawliet simply stated, a weirdly blank expression on his face.

Not just blank. _Weirdly_ blank.

Light bit back another giggle, as that would imply detaching his mouth from the bottle.

"Why did Raito-kun deem it necessary to get inebriated?" Lawliet asked again, still weirdly blank.

"You want to know why?" Light asked, then proceeded to throw his arm – not the one holding the bottle, of course; he still needed that one – around Lawliet's neck and brought the man's head closer to his lips to whisper in his ear. "Bring me another one of these and I'll tell you…" he took the last swing of alcohol and placed the empty bottle in Lawliet's hand, "Here."

Lawliet just weirdly stared some more, then removed Light's arm from around his shoulders and left the room.

Light just giggled some more, finding the situation deeply amusing, sat down on the floor and proceeded to play with the grains of soil that now dirtied the entire carpet.

By the time Lawliet came back, holding another bottle of cheap wine, Light had settled himself on his bed – or what was left of it, as the mattress would take a few days to dry off – and was staring unblinkingly at the ceiling, still grinning widely.

"Is Raito-kun sure about this? You are already drunk and another bottle certainly –"

"Those are just details! I told you, I feel great!"

The brunet got up in a sitting position, grabbed the bottle from Lawliet and unscrewed the cork with surprising dexterity. Lawliet settled himself at the edge of the bed in his usual crouched position, biting his thumbnail and staring amusedly at Light as the teen took a long first swing from the bottle.

"Raito-kun seems to be very accustomed to alcohol," the black-haired man said after a while.

"Actually, it's the first time I drink more than a glass."

"I wouldn't have guessed."

Light just shrugged and either understand or chose to ignore the double edged comment. They spent another few minutes in complete silence, just staring at one another. The delicate clink of the bottle against the nightstand was the only sound that pierced the air, distracting neither of the men from their staring competition.

Lawliet was a very curious creature, Light decided. Those big, black eyes, hideous at first sight, those eyes that had the power to pierce into one's very soul and remain unforgettable once they've caught your attention; that mop of hair, dark as ebony, with rough, tangled strands that begged for a combing; that thin body, so fascinating in its pointy angles and smooth, morbidly white skin. Yes, Lawliet was so very peculiar.

And he had an equally peculiar alias.

L.

So simple and predictable. So equally complex and dangerous.

L. Yes, it fit him.

Light broke eye contact to roll his eyes, taking another sip of wine. Maybe the alcohol was actually getting to his brain. He was actually starting to consider Law – no, L – attractive, despite all of the man's revolting appearance and horrible manners…

"I think Raito-kun has had enough," L finally broke the silence, extending his hand for the bottle. Light held it away from the other man's reach, a small smirk playing at his lips.

"I'll give it to you on one condition," he said, not noticing the slurred tone his words had taken, "Finish it."

"No," L simply stated, hand still extended.

"Then, at least take one big gulp. I dare you."

"Raito-kun, that is not a –"

"Refusing a direct challenge? My, my, L, I think I may have overestimated you."

The raven opened his mouth to argue, but quickly closed it back and his eyes burned into Light's. Was that a glare? Yep, it was. Still smirking, Light crawled to the foot of the bed and sat next to L, placing the bottle in the man's still extended hand.

Eyes never leaving Light's, L placed the bottle's head between his lips and leaned his head backwards, taking a few long gulps of the blissful red poison. Light was mesmerised by the way L's pronounced Adam's apple bobbed upwards every time he swallowed. L then put the bottle between them and rested his arm next to his other one, on his bent knees.

"See? It wasn't so bad," Light continued to smirk and took the bottle for another sip of his own.

If L ever noticed – and he most probably did – he never said a word.

**-**

**-**

**-**

" – and then Sayu entered my room and caught Mikami searching through my underwear drawer!" Raito-kun finished his story with a hearty laugh. "She never knew he was searching for the glasses Takada had hid from him!"

Truthfully, L hadn't been listening to Raito-kun's narration since the part where Misa, Light's pretend girlfriend, had stepped on a cat… or was it a hat? In any case, during that part, L's hearing and attention span had gotten mysteriously hazy.

It might just have something to do with the fact that he'd been sharing the bottle of wine with Raito-kun for a while now. The bottle barely had a few more drops in it anymore, which Raito-kun was already eyeing hungrily.

Despite his age, L had never drunk more than a few sips of alcohol at a time. He found the substance an incredible way of losing money and brain cells. But, of course, he wasn't about to admit this to Raito-kun , thus he had taken up the challenge.

"And then this guy with the weird haircut, Higuchi, he… ah, what did he do again?" his brunet companion scratched the back of his head, trying to remember. "It's a stupid story, anyway. So stupid I don't even remember it!" he finished with another laugh.

_Who would have thought that, out of the entire world, Raito-kun would be a happy drunk? _

"What about you, L?" the raven was stirred from his thoughts by the sudden serious tone.

"_What_ about me, Raito-kun?"

His mind's wheels rotated with the velocity of light. Had the boy asked him a question that he did not hear? That would be very humiliating, even if they were both positively drunk.

"Well, you've barely said a thing all night. Tell me something about you."

"I was born on a cold night of October in the United Ki –" L started in his usual monotone voice, hand groping for the bottle once again, before being rudely interrupted by Raito-kun.

"No, no, not that kind of stuff," the teen wagged one finger in front of him to distract L's attention, while his other hand snatched the bottle from the raven's grasp. "Tell me something nobody knows about you. A secret."

"A secret? But if it were a secret then I wouldn't have any reason no tell Raito-kun."

"But I told you _my_ secrets."

"I did not ask for Raito-kun secrets," the raven reached for the bottle once again, but Raito-kun slapped his hand away, drowning the last gulp.

"It's gone," the brunet said with a small grin, once again placing the empty bottle in L's hand. L placed it back between them without another word.

They spent a few moments in silence. L hugged his knees to his chest and rested his chin on them, struggling to keep his eyes open. He wasn't tired per se, but the room's artificial lightening seemed to have upped quite a few dozens of watts in the past hour, to the point where it was nearly blinding him.

"Hey, L?" Raito-kun suddenly asked while playing with the two empty bottles.

"Yes?"

"Do you have a spare mattress? As you can see, I seem to be missing mine," the brunet giggled again and hit the hard wood of the bed underneath them to prove his point.

"I'm afraid not, Raito-kun. We had one spare, but you used it on Mello-kun and Matt-kun's bed."

"Damn it."

L decided not to comment on the brunet's choice of language, as Raito-kun had proved to be capable of much more when properly angered. Still, it was a pity to see a person as well mannered as Raito-kun cussing so easily.

"Raito-kun could sleep in my room for the night," L said. He did not know why he had suggested such, but it had seemed like a good idea at the time.

"And where'll you sleep?" Raito-kun had turned and was staring at him, eyes comically enlarged.

"In my room," L answered, turning to stare himself at his companion. What could Raito-kun find not understandable in that simple statement? "Raito-kun must remember that I have a double bed."

"Oh," the brunet simply said, still looking suspiciously at L for a few seconds, before smiling cheerfully. "Let's go, then!"

The teen crawled on all fours to the edge of the bed and tried getting up. Unfortunately, he doubled over and would have fallen head first onto the ground, if not for L's quick reflexes. The man quickly got up from his crouched position and grabbed the back of Raito-kun's collar, barely balancing the brunet on his feet.

"Stupid gravitation," L heard the teen slur.

L got up from the bed himself, still holding the poor, wrinkled collar, before placing his hands on both of Raito-kun's shoulders, steadying him.

"I think Raito-kun has had a bit too much to drink," he concluded.

"Rubbish, I feel great," came the reply, followed by a humiliating hiccup.

L did not further comment, but simply pushed Raito-kun forward, steadying him every few seconds, until they were out of the room and ready to climb the stairs. Suddenly, Raito-kun stopped mid-step and turned to L, nearly bumping head first into the man.

"The blanket..." he muttered, trying to pass through L to go in the opposite direction.

"What blanket, Raito-kun?"

"Your blanket. I left it in the washing machine –"

"I do not have any need of it at the moment, Raito-kun, let's –"

But the brunet just pushed him away and tried to make his way towards the basement entrance, immediately stumbling on his own feet. L grabbed his mid-section and steadied him once again. After thinking over his options for a moment, he dragged the youth back to the staircase and leaned him against the railing.

"I'll go and get it, Raito-kun. Stay here."

"Okay," the brunet muttered, still scowling, but finally convinced of his inability to stand on his own two feet.

Nodding to himself, L turned and headed for the old, wooden door in the kitchen that led to the basement. As soon as he opened and gazed upon what seemed to be an interminable amount of stairs, he felt glad he had not let Raito-kun go.

Unfortunately, it proved that L himself was having problems descending said stairs. The raven had to plaster his hands against the nearby wall to stop his head – or surroundings; he had yet to figure out which – from spinning. He briefly considered closing his eyes as to not see the horrors, but quickly decided that, even in his deeply inebriated state, it was a very, very bad idea.

After quite a number of pitiful attempts, L's bare feet finally managed to touch the stone basement floor. Sighing in relief, the youth gently let go of the wall and made his way to the washing machine. Luckily, his legs still listened to him pretty well.

His old blanket, although missing the specks of black paint, was soaking wet as he drew it out of the appliance between two bony fingers. It was unusable in its current state.

_I guess in can't be helped_, L thought as he unceremoniously threw it in the drying machine and turned it on.

He was just about to exit the room, when his eyes fell on the wine rack for the second time that night.

_No__, that wouldn't be a good idea, Raito-kun is already pretty much inebriated, and he has school tomorrow,_ his conscience told him.

L stood there for a few long minutes, trying to decide whether he should indulge in his new interest for alcohol or not. Finally, after checking left and right to be sure that, by some divine misfortune, nobody was watching him, he grabbed a third bottle and stumbled back up the stairs while drowning half of its contents.

**-**

**-**

**-**

_Yes… ye__s… oh, yes, you're doing great! Yes, just like that! Faster… faster… fuck, NO! I lost it…_

Matt moaned loudly in displeasure. Next to him, Mello stiffened, pulling the sheets away from his face.

"What happened to you this time?" the blond muttered, glaring at Matt.

"Nothing," the redhead answered quickly, hands fumbling under the sheets to cover his tracks. It wouldn't do for Mello to catch him like this again…

"Nothing, my ass! You just moaned! Don't tell me you were –"

"No, of course not!"

"Matt…"

"I swear, Mello, I wasn't –"

"Jeez, Matt, I told you not to do it anymore, at least when I'm in bed with you! How do you want me to sleep when you –"

"But –"

Mello didn't let him continue, as the blond's hand dove under the covers close to Matt's navel, and retreated shortly after, holding a small electronic device.

"There you are! I was sure you were playing video games again!"

Without another word, he threw the GameBoy at the opposite side of the room, ignoring Matt's pained eyes. The dog, which had been sleeping soundly, woke with a startled yelp when the gadget hit the wall above its head. And he was doing such a good job keeping it down, too!

"Oh, don't look at me like that now!" the blond muttered as he lay back down in bed, dragging the covers up to his neck.

"You just threw away my GameBoy."

"Oh, shut up and go to sleep, it's past midnight –"

"Shh!" Matt suddenly silenced his friend's scold. He strained his ears, trying to once again hear the sound that had caught his attention.

_There it is. It sounds like something hard fell to the floor. This can mean only one thing… _

"There are burglars in the house!" the redhead exclaimed as he got up from bed, eyes wide.

"What the hell are you talking about?!" Mello glared at him, removing the covers from his person and standing uptight. "If this is a plan of yours to get the Game –" the blond stopped rambling as the sound was heard again, this time closer. "What the hell is that?"

By then, Mello looked positively terrified.

"Burglars, I told you." Matt whispered, eyes wide.

"Don't be stupid, L or Pretty Boy would have heard them…"

"What if they already took them down?"

Mello's jaw dropped at that mere idea, before he composed himself. His slightly enlarged blue eyes were the only mirror of his inner horror.

"Should we go check?" the boy finally asked.

"I think we should," Matt answered as he tip-toed to the attic's entrance. "Let's go!"

"Wait!"

As if on fire, Matt turned around at his friend's alarmed tone. To his relief, Mello was not attacked by a band of criminals, but simply brutally kicked the mass of sheets on his other side, a disgruntled expression on his face.

Oh, Matt had nearly forgotten about that guy…

"Oww –" a tiny, high-pitched voice was heard from under the sheets, and a mop of messy white hair appeared.

"Get up, freak, we've got some burglars to hunt!" Mello exclaimed as he got out of bed.

Near blinked owlishly at the blond, still half-asleep.

He was probably debating Mello's lack of sanity after such a comment, Matt decided as he opened the trap door.

**-**

**-**

**-**

_Somebody stop __spinning the fucking planet, I'm getting dizzy…_

Light rubbed the side of his head where it had hit the staircase's railing. Maybe trying to go upstairs hadn't actually been a good idea. He stretched from his half-lying position on the stairs, leaning against the railing, hoping to get rid of his dizziness soon.

Ignoring L's advice – more like, order – the brunet had tried to ascend the stairs on his own, sustaining himself on the railing. Unfortunately, he had barely climbed three stairs, when he lost his balance and fell disgracefully to the floor, hitting his head on the wooden railing.

After a few unsuccessful attempts to get back on his feet, he gave up, deciding to play with his thumbs while waiting for unconsciousness to overwhelm him.

What would happen when he woke up? What if he missed school because he didn't have an alarm clock to wake him up? What if he never woke up? What if, in the morning, Mello wanted to go to the kitchen, tripped over his dead body and fell down the stairs, breaking his neck?

… actually, that was a good thing. But, still, he wasn't willing to sacrifice his life to kill Mello. There were other, more creative ways of getting rid of –

"Raito-kun, are you alright?"

Light turned his eyes to glare at the dark silhouette towering over him from a few feet away.

"Oh, it's you," he muttered monotonously.

"I told Raito-kun not to move because he might hurt himself," L scolded him as he dragged the uncaring teen to his feet.

The other youth threw one of Light's arms over his shoulders, sustaining more than half of his weight. As L encircled Light's waist to be able to carry him easier, the brunet noticed the bottle of blood-red wine in the other's hand.

"L, you brought booze on your own!" Light exclaimed, followed by a demented giggle.

L decided to ignore him, thus Light continued to laugh at his own dysfunctional joke as he was carried all the way upstairs. Just as they reached the corridor of the second floor, mere feet away from L's room, Light decided he couldn't wait any longer for the bottle and made a run for it, only succeeding in once again hitting the ground with a loud thud.

"Oww, that hurts…" he moaned as he tried to free his left arm from its place, twisted under himself.

"I am starting to doubt Raito-kun's chances of survival this week," L simply said and he once again dragged the young man to his feet.

"About time, too."

After a few seconds of stumbling, L managed to open the door to his room, and dragged Light inside, placing him in a sitting position on his bed.

The brunet, grinning, downed himself on his back, arms extended at sides. He knew that he looked very unlike himself at the moment, lying supine on an alien bed, not bothering to take in his surroundings and smiling like he didn't have a care in the world. His clogged mind processed that as a good thing and he smiled even wider, closing his eyes and placing his hands under his head in a makeshift pillow.

He was allowed to get stoned for a night. There wasn't anything worse that could happen after his horrible day…

"Raito-kun should get drunk more often," the prodigy heard L mutter. He opened his eyes and noticed that the odd raven hadn't moved an inch from his place, standing in the middle of the room, and was staring at Light from head to toe, thumb glued to his lips.

Unable to consider L's words too much in his state of mind, Light just smirked, proud of himself.

"Get in bed already, will you?"

"I'm afraid Raito-kun has already claimed the whole bed. It would be very nice of him to make room."

Light gave the man a confused look, before raising his head to take in his immediate surroundings, noticing for the first time that he was lying horizontally across the bed.

_Oh, so that's why I was missing a pillow…_

Unable to do much else, he crawled to the left side of the bed – making sure he was in the appropriate direction for once – and crashed face first into a pillow, lying prostrate.

"Thank you, Raito-kun," he heard L's slightly sarcastic voice as the raven crawled over his legs to get to the other side. Once there, L crouched in his usual position, thumb never leaving his lips, still staring at Light. Light turned his head to the side, deciding he had little else to do that stare right back at his companion, suddenly dead serious.

L looked even weirder while drunk. His unblinking eyes tended to go in and out of focus, his usually morbidly white cheeks caught the slightest pink tinge, he forgot that he was prohibited to scratch in Light's presence – and the brunet did not even have the energy to tell him so – and his balance was far from being the best.

Then again, Light was hardly one to talk.

"You know, you still haven't told me a secret," the younger youth finally said, turning his eyes onto the white ceiling.

"I have already declared that I will not be telling Raito-kun such."

"Hmph. At least tell me something about you that not many know."

L considered that for a while. His eyes went out of focus once again and his thumb pressed against his lips as he seemed to weigh his options. That, or he was thinking about sweets, Light's mind added and he stiffened another chuckle.

"When I was thirteen years old, I accidentally walked in on Reika-san and Masahiro-san fornicating," the raven muttered after a while, still deep in thought.

Light chocked on the gulp of wine he was taking. L had walked in on his parents having _sex_?! _No wonder he was the way he was_!

If Light himself had walked on his parents doing it, he would have gone mental and killed a few thousand people with a ballpoint pen, or something equally impossible!

Needing to confirm such news, the brunet turned to stare into L's pools of blackness. The raven did not say 'Ha ha, April's Fool!' or 'Gotcha!' – or anything, for that matter – just stared right back for a long while.

Tired of those black, endless pools of nothingness that were L's eyes, Light let his own orbs travel to the man's black locks. L's hair was another oddity of nature. It was crisp and tangled, lacking proper care or even proper combing, yet it managed to fall exactly in the right places on L's forehead and neck. He suddenly felt the need to touch those ashy locks, if only to convince himself that they were just as unkempt as they looked.

Without another word, Light rose himself on his hands and knees, and crawled to behind the raven, never breaking eye contact. L stared after him, as much as his long neck permitted him to, but soon lost sight of the brunet and decided to voice his curiosity.

"What is Raito-kun doing?"

"Shush, it doesn't matter," Light's tone was low and husky. The worst – or best? – part was that the brunet didn't even realise it. He was much too preoccupied by the way L's hair felt between his fingers.

Sure enough, it was rough and dry, clearly lacking any relief a balm could offer. But then, why couldn't he pull his hands away from it? Light gazed at the mass of hair, untangling a loose knot every time he encountered it.

L remained silent as Light continued to pet him, bony hands hugging his knees to his chest tighter and usual. Light's knees were starting to go asleep in their position, pressed against the mattress, but he didn't stop running the fingers of both his hands though the man's hair, parting it at the back, revealing a small, delicate mole punctuating the other's pointy neck, just below his hairline, that was just…

…_cute,_ the boy's delusional mind decided.

Light suddenly felt a burning urge to just place his lips over that near invisible beauty mark, to feel the certain warmth of L's white, bony neck.

Not considering any alternative, he placed his hands on L's shoulders, keeping him in place, and brushed his lips gently against the beauty mark in a delicate kiss, surprised at the utter softness of the skin. _Like whipped cream on top of a cake,_ the thought ironically, scolding himself for the cheesiness of his remarks. In the mere second they remained there, he felt an unearthly heat rise from the pits of his stomach and climb to his cheeks, surely reddening them.

Unfortunately, he was rudely interrupted by the sudden moves L made and was forced to retreat. The raven abruptly turned around to stare at Light, eyes wide and suspicious.

"What is Raito-kun doing?" L repeated, this time rougher. His cheeks, too, were red – if due to the alcohol or anything else, it remained to be seen.

"Nothing," Light replied mysteriously, unable to stop a smirk from growing on his lips at L's discomfort. Hell, he himself had no idea what he was doing anymore.

As if to further prove his insanity, Light's eyes, under their own accord, travelled to L's lips, remaining glued there. He knew he was openly staring, but he couldn't bring himself to care in his inebriated state. All he could think about were those two pale lips, slightly opened as if to mock him. If L's skin felt so soft, then his lips must be _heaven_.

Unwilling to consider any consequences, Light dragged himself on all fours, slowly, almost seductively if not for his horrible balance, until he was between L's now slightly parted legs. His eyes flickered to the raven's for a second, making sure L would not push him away before he even started something. Sure enough, the older youth's eyes were wide, calculated and suspicious, but not disgusted.

Taking advantage of the short-lived confusion in L's eyes, Light went for the kill with nearly bruising speed. The brunet's head lounged forward, his lips crushing against L's.

Once again he was proven wrong when it came to the odd youth. L's lips were not soft and velvety, but rough and crisp, dry from the lack of care. And Light found himself loving this sensation much more than he would have loved it if they would have felt as soft as any nameless girl's that he had kissed in the past.

It lasted only a second. One hard press of lips. So insignificant in its definition, yet so earth shattering in its feeling.

Light opened his eyes, just then realising he had closed them during the kiss. L's face was mere inches away, huge, bug-like eyes staring right into his soul, noses begging to touch each other.

The next actions happened so fast that Light's slow working brain registered them only moments later. L had apparently decided he also liked the brush of their lips, thus rushing for another round. In his haste, he had knocked Light onto his back, climbing over him brutally, straddling his hips.

Mouths crashed painfully, need overshadowing any other emotion in the two youths' minds. Lips pressed each other passionately, teeth bit any bit of delicate flesh they ran across, tongues danced awkwardly, clouded by inexperience and alcohol.

Light fought for dominance with all his might. He wanted L to feel the same pain he felt, the same burning pleasure sprouting from the pits of his stomach. As L placed his hand behind Light's neck, pressing their mouths as close as nature would allow it, the brunet dragged his nails against L's back, trying to pull a moan, groan, or even just a gasp out of the other man.

They explored each other's mouths with bruising passion, trying to provoke as much pain and pleasure out of the other as possible. L's tongue, now fully in control of what it was doing, felt so wrong in Light's mouth, with its ashy taste, tinged with a sweet edge, and rough, almost forceful domination. So wrong, that it felt distinctly and utterly right, in its fiery dedication.

_Yes__, fire_. L was _fire_. The same fire that burned in the pits of Light's stomach, begging for release, the same fire that made his groin burn, the same fire that gave life and killed with the same indifference.

L was _dangerous_. And Light loved every second of it.

In an unconscious attempt to take this sensation to a higher level, the brunet raised his hips upwards, meeting L's bony ones just inches above, crashing with a spasm of pain interlaced with sinful pleasure. Light couldn't suppress a humiliated gasp as specks of white clouded his vision. As if from far away, he felt L's breath catch in his throat and his ministrations freeze for a fraction of a second, before resuming their actions.

Seconds after, they broke the kiss, both breathing in much needed oxygen. Light didn't even have time to open his hazy eyes, when he felt those same chapped lips press against the side of his neck, nibbling and licking at his skin.

Unwilling to give up the little control he could still have, the brunet removed one hand from its place, clinging to L's back, and let it travel down the man's chest, feeling every bony rib through the cotton shirt. Soon, it arrived just above L's groin, where it proceeded to awkwardly unbutton and unzip his jeans.

He heard L gasp lowly as his fingers brushed accidentally the tented bump in his pants.

Light permitted himself a small smirk in his drunken pleasure, glad that L was just as affected by it as he was. He was finally starting to have the upper hand in that game.

Because that's what it was. A game. And the winner was the one who could give and receive the most pleasure at the same time.

Just as Light's trembling fingers were searching for the zipper, a discreet vibration in his pocket started, making him finally give in and moan, losing a stage of their unspoken game. For a second he thought that L was the cause of that vibration, trying to once again send Light over the edge, when a low, mechanic ring followed, also from the direction of his pocket.

Even if his pleasure driven state he realised with stupor what it was.

His _cell phone_.

The bitter-sweet biting at his neck stopped and L's face rose to meet Light's wide eyes as if suddenly aware of what they were doing. Immediately the raven got off of Light as the brunet dragged himself to the very edge of the bed, letting his feet hang down. He extracted the cell phone from his pocket, trying to ignore the painful erection tenting his pants, and looked at the caller ID.

_Of course, who else? Maybe if I don't answer…_

Unfortunately, that was not a option. He let the phone ring for another few seconds, until it went silent, before it started ringing once again with renewed energy.

Rolling his eyes in annoyance, the brunet decided to take the darn call and get it over with.

"Hello?" he said into the speaker, trying his best to keep the slur out of his voice.

"_Light-kun! Where were you just now?! Misa-Misa told you she'd call!" _

Light cringed at the high-pitched voice, deciding it was much, much too late for such conversations. Not to mention that it wouldn't do any good to the headache he was sure to have the next day.

"Oh, hi Misa," he muttered into the cell phone, then hung up, shut down the phone and proceeded to slide it under the bed.

He would find it there the next morning, anyway…

Holding his hand to his head to stop it from spinning, Light turned around to climb back to bed, noticing that L had curled into his usual position by the headboard, effectively hiding his certain erection. The raven's wide eyes, once again regaining their usual, calculated look, were staring at Light searchingly and his thumb was pressed to his mouth, hiding away those sinful lips.

In his inebriated state, it took the brunet a few seconds to realise where exactly L was staring; his lips.

_So the bastard isn't as unaffected about this as he wants to seem,_ Light thought as a knowing smirk settled on his features.

As he stared back at that odd person, that man who turned heads on the street with his anomalies, Light wondered if he should back down. Misa's call had come just in time to wake him up and make him weigh his possibilities logically – or as logically as he could while dead drunk and spurting an erection.

_Do I want this?_ 'Yes, of course you do!' his lower region answered him with a painful reminder.

_Would it be worth it?_ Well, there was only one way to find out.

Not wasting another moment, Light dashed to Lawliet with the rapidity of a panther, capturing the other man's lips in another bruising kiss.

Because he _knew_ he wanted L. _God,_ he wanted him _so much_.

**-**

**-**

**-**

"What was that?" Matt asked as a particularly loud moan made its way to their ears, breathing down Mello's neck.

"Are they fighting?" N asked from behind Matt.

Mello, who had been the first one to get to the source of the noises – L's room – had claimed the keyhole and was peeping through it.

Needless to say, what he could distinguish was not what any of them expected. From his position, he could discern that Light was lying on the bed with L over him, both missing their shirts. He couldn't see what exactly they were doing, but it certainly did not look like fighting.

Were… were they allowed to do that? Wasn't it forbidden… or something? That was what everyone had told Mello all his life and yet, there was L, the most intelligent person in the blond's world, breaking all those rules. Did that mean that –

"Hey, Mello, come on! What are they doing?" Matt urged, pricking him in the ribs.

"Hold it, will you? I'm trying to see –"

"Oh, let me then!"

"Like hell I'll –"

Without waiting for approval, Matt pushed him out of the keyhole's range and neared his head to it, peeping through the small opening. Mello did not know what he had been expecting from the redhead. Surprise, curiosity, confusion, even downright hysterical laughing.

But Matt jumped like burned from the keyhole seconds after he had had time to see anything, eyes wide and mouth twisted into a grimace.

"That's disgusting…" he managed to utter as his cheeks turned paper pale.

"Wha –" Mello squeaked involuntarily. N looked confusedly between the two, the wheels of his brilliant mind rotating constantly.

"I can't believe they… that's so… EW!"

"Hey, Matt, I think there's a misunderstanding. I mean, this is _L_ and –" Mello tried to defend his idol, even if in the back of his mind he couldn't figure why he wanted to do so in front of Matt. Whatever those two were doing, he knew it wasn't _disgusting _per se. Only the fact that it was _Pretty Boy_ made his stomach churn.

"Who cares of it's _L_?! They're still a couple of filthy faggots!"

The words pierced through Mello's heart like bullets. He would probably remember that phrase all his life, along with the feeling of utter defeat and speechlessness it brought. Out of the entire planet, he expected that _Matt_ would be the most accepting of something like that. The boy inhaled _tobacco_ like it was chocolate, for heaven's sake!

"And what were you doing staring at them?" Matt's voice, cold as ice, woke him from his state of shock.

"W-what?"

"You heard me! You just stood there staring!"

"I-I was trying to see what they were doing –"

"Like hell!" the voice, although no louder than a whisper, resounded a thousand times louder in Mello's ears. "You didn't need that long to see that they were… they were… GAH!" Matt took a deep breath, breaking eye contact with the blond, "I'm going for a snack," he finally muttered and left down the stairs, still fuming.

N, who had probably figured out already what the whole problem was, looked at Mello curiously, examining him as an archaeologist would examine a particularly ancient fossil.

"You should come downstairs and eat something, M," the white haired boy muttered, waiting for Mello's reaction.

The blond just nodded, eyes still glued to L's door even as he heard N's bare feet paddling down the stairs, leaving him alone. He took a deep breath, trying to contain himself from screaming out loud as he turned around and climbed the ladder to the attic.

_They're still a couple of filthy faggots!_

Never in his life had he felt such a strange sensation. He felt as if his ribcage was narrowing, mashing his insides with unearthly force, making his heart want to explode in pain. He gasped as he tried to fill his little lungs with air, but no amount of breathing was able to make the pain go away.

_Why does he look at them like they're monsters?!_

Mello felt as if he would suffocate right there as he hugged his pillow to his chest. The pain was unbearable and the words wouldn't stop running through his head.

_I don't want to be a monster…_

When the other two came back to bed, they did not notice the strains of tears on the sheets, next to Mello's sleeping form.

**-**

**-**

**-**

**A/N:** So much for my 'OMG! I'm not hitting 7k with this little plot!' . I don't know why, but this chapter is my most hated until now. There are parts I like, but some of them just scream awkward phrasing and I don't even know how to make them better…

Also, what you've just encountered is my pitiful first attempt at romantic interactions in years, so please excuse the idiocy T_T

Thank you for reviewing to **Black-Dranzer-1119, blueberry-90, xkuroxshinobix, Yoru K-Chan, IsobelAnis, Dragonist, anime-fushigi, StandardSpork, Zena Silverwing, boeboebi, Slash Superqueen, bookenworum, 0mohni0, Cross - The Damned Alchemist, Kira** (I love your name XD), **Nekotsubasa**, and countless others who have added FaaW on their alerts and faves. You guys rock XD

If you liked it (or not, I don't mind either way XD) please leave a review. I don't mean to sound like a review whore, but I need comprehensive critique more than ever on this one T_T

**Edit:** I just noticed there was a big, bolded **[DOOOOOOOG!!!]** in the middle of the chappie o.0 It was a note for myself when I wrote the first draft and I forgot to cut it when editing. Sorry if it made anyone go 'WTF?!' when seeing it ^^U


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